strategy
Strengthening regional cooperation on transboundary air pollution control
Context:
Air pollutants, including hazardous chemical substances, continue to be transported in substantial amounts across national boundaries and over long distances, causing harm to human health and damage to ecosystems and natural resources of major environmental and economic importance.
Implementation:
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
In the 1960s scientists demonstrated the interrelationship between sulphur emissions in continental Europe and the acidification of Scandinavian lakes. The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm signalled the start for active international cooperation to combat acidification. Between 1972 and 1977 several studies confirmed the hypothesis that air pollutants could travel several thousands of kilometres before deposition and damage occurred. This also implied that cooperation at the international level was necessary to solve problems such as acidification.
Broader:
Reducing air pollutionPromoting cooperation on sustainable transport for health and environmentPromoting regional and sub-regional cooperation on environmental protectionImproving inter-agency regional cooperation to halt environmental degradationMotivating cooperation Narrower:
Reducing national annual emissions of nitrogen oxidesProviding impact information for transboundary air pollutionFacilitating training about transboundary air pollution controlExchanging meteorological information on transboundary air pollutionExchanging biological information relating to transboundary air pollutionAgreeing standards for information exchange on transboundary air pollutionExchanging information on control technologies for transboundary air pollutionExchanging physico-chemical information relating to transboundary air pollutionInforming about industrial development decisions affecting transboundary air pollutionExchanging information on transmission processes leading to transboundary air pollution Facilitates:
Studying atmospheric pollutionInforming on regional legislationControlling transboundary air pollutionControlling transboundary emissions of persistent organic pollutantsExpanding tripartite cooperation to improve safety, health and environmentIncreasing support for technological research and development on the environmentStrengthening capacity to conduct and apply scientific research to the environmentExpanding programmes for disseminating scientific and technological research on the environment Problems:
Long-range transboundary air pollutionType Classification:
E: Emanations of other strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
