SACEP Co-organizes South Asia Regional Workshop on Ambient Air Pollution and Public Health: A World Bank Regional Flagship Study

The South Asia Co-operative Environment Program (SACEP) and the World Bank jointly organized ‘South Asia Regional Workshop on Ambient Air Pollution and Public Health: A World Bank Regional Flagship Study’ on 24 March 2021 at 10:00 India Standard Time.

This workshop was attended by high-level decision-makers and environmental experts, representing the National Focal Points of all the eight member-states of SACEP along with other delegates.

The objective of this Inaugural Meeting was to:

• share current policy status on air pollution and health implications in the respective countries;
• discuss the current institutional mechanisms in dealing with the challenge of air pollution;
• share knowledge on the monitoring of air quality;
• discuss opportunities for and obstacles to transboundary cooperation; and
• get feedback from the SACEP member-states on the draft flagship study conducted by the World Bank for South Asia.

H.E. Ambassador M. Ashraf Haidari, SACEP Director General, delivered opening and closing remarks, highlighting the need to strengthen national policies and measures to reduce air pollution and to mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution on human health across the region. He also emphasized the need for regional cooperation, adopting a collective solution to the problem. To do its part, he reaffirmed the commitment of SACEP to working in hand in hand with all NFPs and development partners to tackle and address the air pollution crisis in the region.

Click HERE to watch and read the opening and closing remarks by H.E. SACEP Director-General Ambassador Haidari.