The theme for the Better Air Quality 2008 (BAQ 2008) workshop is: "Air Quality and Climate Change: Scaling up Win-Win Solutions for Asia." It is directly related to the need to intensify efforts on urban air quality management to minimize present and future health and environmental damages and the recommendation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendation to actively link air quality management with climate change mitigation.
BAQ 2008 also intends to contribute to the successful implementation of the Bali road map which was agreed upon in December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia . BAQ 2008 especially intends to contribute towards "national appropriate mitigation actions by developing country Parties in the context of sustainable development, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity building, in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner" (Bali Action Plan – 1, b, ii.)
A more scientific term of win-win solutions for urban air quality improvement and climate change mitigation is "co-benefits". Co-benefits are defined as follows:
- Development benefits resulting from climate change mitigation measures, such as reduced air pollution and associated health benefits, and improved energy security through reduced energy costs and dependency on oil imports and increased access to energy for the poor;
- Climate change benefits, most importantly reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting from measures to address development issues such as air pollution.
The BAQ 2008 organizing committee encourages you to submit abstracts on co-benefits of air quality management and climate change mitigation. Abstracts can cover academic, technical- or policy-related studies on co-benefits or describe the impacts of specific programs or projects on co-benefits. Abstracts can relate to the city, national or regional levels. An Asian focus is required; those with a focus on Europe, USA, or others parts of the world should clearly state the relevance of the proposed paper for air quality management in Asia, and if applicable, its impact on reducing greenhouse gases. Priority will be given to abstracts which focus on new research and innovative policies and solutions. Special consideration will be given to abstracts which describe or assess the potential for scaling up technical and policy solutions.
Please submit your abstracts using the correct format (maximum 300 words) to bert.fabian (at) cai-asia (dot) org and copy cornie.huizenga (at) cai-asia (dot) org.
NOTE: When emailing your abstract, please include your first and last name in file name. (e.g. john_smith_BAQ2008.doc)
Deadline for submission has been extended.
Abstracts on the following topics will be a priority:
1. Co-benefits and Air Quality Management
- Scientific understanding of linkage between air pollutant emissions and GHG emissions at the local, national and regional scale
- Monitoring and modeling
- Inventories and source apportionment
- Impacts on health and environment
- Policies and legislation
- Financing and cost-benefit analysis
- Institutional arrangements to promote a co-benefits approach
- Technology transfer
2. Co-benefits and Transport
- Inventories, emission factors and measuring methodology
- Engine technology
- Fuels and fuel quality standards
- Sustainable transport planning and implementation
- Land use planning
- Policy instruments
- Financing, including CDM or alternative approaches such as sectoral or policy based CDM
3. Co-benefits and Industry and Power Generation
- Inventories, emission factors and measuring methodology
- Combustion and processing technology
- Energy efficiency
- Fuels and renewable energy
- Policy instruments
- Financing, including CDM or alternative approaches such as sectoral or policy based CDM
4. Co-benefits and Indoor Air Pollution
- Linkage between indoor-outdoor air
- Relationship in-door air quality and climate change
- Inventories, emission factors and measuring methodology
- Impacts
- Technology developments
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