Summary

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 been made to build the required capacity and institutional linkages in South Asia to assess a serious and growing problem. This synthesis report presents the achievement of the Malé Declaration in areas as diverse as emission inventory preparation, air pollution monitoring and modelling, health, crop, ecosystem and corrosion impact assessment, integrated assessment modelling, the development of policy responses and awareness raising activities. It shows that the Malé Declaration has established a platform that can potentially deliver significant benefits for the people of South Asia and their environment.