A 3D Air Quality System for Co-Benefits: Effective Use of Dispersion and Dialogue for Decision Making

Abstract:

Air quality management (AQM) is becoming increasingly important in a sustainable growth context in the cities. Almost all the megacities of today and potential megacities of tomorrow suffer from urban air pollution and its environmental health consequences. It is important that the city managers are better equipped to visualize air pollution DISPERSION integrated with multi-stakeholder DIALOGUE for an effective system for DECISION making. This is expected to support policies and interventions for local air quality and global climate change mitigation in a co-benefits framework.

The key ingredient to a successful AQM program, that addresses both the human health aspects and carbon emissions, is a better understanding of pollution sources. In Asian cities, that have limited capacity (institutional, technical, and financial), institutional fragmentation, poor availability of data (local or otherwise), lack of adequate modeling tools, poor public participation, and a bewildering array of management options, it is a challenging task for city managers to evaluate the effectiveness of these co-benefit programs. Available analytical tools are invariably too complex and there is a need to develop stakeholder and analytical frameworks appropriate to the needs and capacity of each city. This paper is intended to present an interactive framework for better understanding local sources and provide a platform for informed dialogue for decision makers on integrated policies for climate change and air quality.