To make it easy for the National Implementing Agency (NIA) personnel to perform their tasks proficiently, it was also decided to develop a Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) manual. Accordingly, this manual has been written by Asian technical advisor on monitoring to the Malé Declaration, checked and reviewed by the MoC.

The ‘Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia’ is an intergovernmental network involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, the Republic of Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Since its inception in 1998 the Malé Declaration National Focal Points (NFPs) and National Implementing Agencies (NIAs) have worked on a comprehensive set of activities, funded by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), to build capacity in South Asia for the assessment of air pollution impacts and prevention and control options. The programme was very ambitious from the outset and considerable progress has …

Atmospheric brown cloud (ABC), a frequently occurring phenomenon in many regions of the world, is a regional scale plume of air pollution that consists of a mixture of anthropogenic sulfate, nitrate, organics, black carbon, dust and fly ash particles and natural aerosols, such as sea salt and mineral dust. Greater awareness of the ABC problem was generated by the 1999 Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) initiative over the North Indian Ocean region. Global concern came about following the first preliminary report on ABC, which was based on INDOEX. The global implications of ABCs were highlighted by the United Nations Environment Programme …

This report summarises the content discussed during the consultation workshop held in Kathmandu, Nepal. The workshop started with welcome remarks and Keynote Address delivered by representatives from UNEP, U.S. EPA, ICIMOD, and the Ministry of Environment, Nepal. The internationally renowned climate scientist and Chair of the ABC-International Science Team, Prof. Ramanathan, delivered the Keynote address. In his address, Prof. V. Ramanathan, expressed the need to formulate strategies for reducing black carbon emissions as the present scientific understanding of short-lived pollutants is sufficiently advanced to support appropriate policies and actions. He further mentioned in his address that black carbon emissions carry …

A thick haze is clearly discernible by NCO-P web-cam images taken on April 7 during morning and afternoon conditions, testifying the extension of Atmospheric Brown Cloud up to high Himalayas. Unusually high AOD values were detected at the NCO-P station by the in-situ AERONET measurements; high AOD values also characterized Kathmandu and Pohkara site. Aerosol profiles by CALIPSO confirm the extension and the strength of this event.