CAI-Asia Partnering for Clean Air

AGRA, INDIA (7 December 2004) - In Beijing children do not know that the sky is blue, in Delhi they do not know that sun also rises on a winter morning. A child coughs incessantly in Viet Nam and parents watch in despair. The reason is common across these cities - air pollution.

In 1991, Thailand took the first steps to improve air pollution through a Fuel Quality Reformulation program, which included phasing out use of leaded gasoline and reducing aromatics. It took them five years to completely phase out leaded gasoline. The stakeholders working on this issue faced numerous problems in achieving a complete phase out of leaded gasoline. The people of Thailand now breathe much cleaner air. Learning from their experience however, Bangladesh was able to achieve in six months what Thailand achieved in six years, thanks to the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), which was formed in February 2001.

Lack of coordination among stakeholders working on Air Quality Management (AQM) was the reason for the delay in Thailand, even though many had realized the problem of air pollution. This is also a problem in most other Asian cities.

Realizing the need for a comprehensive joint effort, ADB, World Bank and United States - Asia Environmental Partnership, and a group of cities and organizations, came together to establish the CAI-Asia. The idea of CAI-Asia was well received by representatives from 60 organizations who unanimously voted for adopting its charter.

The CAI-Asia members share experiences and influence formulation and implementation of AQM strategies. "For example Indonesia was concerned whether they could adopt Euro II norms instead of first implementing Euro I norms. They discussed this with members of CAI-Asia and skipped the Euro I level. The forum helps to build confidence among members and supports the implementation of ideas, which will help improve Air Quality," says CAI-Asia Chairperson Elect Kong Ha.

"CAI-Asia is a partnership to achieve four objectives. These are raising awareness, building capacity, improving regional harmonization and promoting policy formulation and implementation on AQM. The focus is on urban air quality because the phenomenal growth in urban Asia will affect air pollution levels, further affecting the quality of life," says World Bank Lead Environmental Specialist Jitendra Shah.

A recent independent evaluation of CAI-Asia shows that in the four years since its inception, it has effectively promoted the understanding of air quality issues and brought together various institutions and individuals to share information on air quality problems and solutions.

More important, it has influenced member cities to undertake concrete AQM activities and has contributed to policy development. "The most important aspect of the evaluation to me was that 75% of respondents felt CAI-Asia's activities have resulted in more cities undertaking concrete AQM activities," says Director General of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department Jan Van Heeswijk.

CAI-Asia has, since its inception, focused on building a community of people working on improving Air Quality Levels in Asia, which includes a large number of Cities, National Governments, Non Government Agencies, Private Enterprises and Development Agencies.

The evaluation says CAI-Asia has grown into a regional network of committed organizations and individuals that have helped facilitate projects and research in key cities in the region. The evaluation has brought out the relevance of the organization and its contributions to the cause of AQM in Asia. It now draws people from all over the world. "I am here to discuss projects on air quality with like minded people in Asia," says SIDA Senior Advisor Sara Stenhammar.

One of its recent successes has been Dhaka. It was the first city to phase out two stroke engines in three-wheelers, a process that took five years of convincing the government, operators and manufacturers. Learning from Dhaka's example, CAI-Asia member Kathmandu undertook a similar exercise and implemented it within a matter of months; Manila is ready to follow. Each of these cities was influenced by the attitude "If they can do it and get benefits, so can I, even faster," says Mr. Shah. CAI-Asia has been the organization behind helping these cities to network and share experiences.

"The success of an organization such as ours is determined not from the number of workshops held, but how far it was able to bring people together and influence policy and its implementation," says Head of the CAI-Asia Secretariat Cornie Huizenga.

CAI-Asia also implements a large number of pilot projects in various Asian cities that can be replicated.

"These studies provide data to support arguments on AQM and will help convince governments to take action," says Chairperson of CAI-Asia Supat Wangwongwatana. "CAI-Asia implements pilot projects in different Asian cities, which has never been done before by any other initiative. Some of our successful projects include the Health Effects Institute study of Asian cities, which is collating data on health impacts of air pollution specially for Asia. Such an exercise has been undertaken for the first time. The Diesel Emission Reduction Program coordinated by Pollution Control Department, Thailand US-AEP/USAID and World Bank looks into the emission reduction potential of various technical and policy options."

CAI-Asia as a part of its activities organizes workshops to enable members to share experiences and knowledge. The ADB-supported Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2004, being held in Agra, India this week, with the participation of almost 650 persons from 35 countries across the world, is the largest air quality workshop in Asia. Through presentations and focused discussions, BAQ 2004 will contribute to improving the science on which AQM in Asia is based, strengthening the governance structure for urban AQM, developing stronger stakeholder networks on AQM in Asia.

Success of this and future BAQ workshops depends not only on the exchange of knowledge but also whether these workshops can have an impact on policies in the region. Policy formulation, efficacy and implementation in terms of air quality improvement are important to determine the success of any such initiative.

The Executive Council of the CAI-Asia is meeting back-to-back with the BAQ 2004. It will discuss CAI-Asia's strategy for the next three years.