Countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia are experiencing severe air pollution problems. Most countries lack technical capabilities and adequate air quality management (AQM) infrastructure. A capacity building workshop on AQM was organised from 19–23 September 2022 for countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. A total of 17 countries (eight in South Asia and nine in Southeast Asia) participated in the workshop. Each country was invited to present on available AQM infrastructure, including challenges and needs. This article synthesises information on available AQM facilities, challenges and needs of the countries.

The second workshop of the project “Capacity Development Programme on Air Quality Management and Emission Reduction of PM2.5 for Member Countries of ASEAN Haze Agreement and Malé Declaration” was organized physically during 19-23 September 2022 at the Asian Institute of Technology Conference Center (AITCC), Pathum Thani, Thailand. This report summarized the proceedings of the 5-day workshop.

This report includes a brief national profile of Indonesia, assessment design and methodology, data collection and analysis results with inventory development, gap analysis between existing policy framework and actual practices in the field and requirements of the relevant conventions, as well as conclusions and recommendations

This guidelines comprehensively contain national policies and regulations, an overview of mercury-containing medicle measuring devices and their alternatives, environmentally sound management of unbroken mecury-containing medicle measuring devices, enviornmentally sound management of broken mercury containing medicle measuring devices health and safety, emergency response, and guidance and supervision

The Situation Assessment of Mercury-Containing Medical Measuring Devices (MCMMDs) in the Philippines presents 1) relevant statistical
information on the use, storage, and disposal of mercury-containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers in licensed hospitals in
the Philippines and 2) an analysis of the current policy framework for the management of MCMMDs and its implementation gaps in accordance with international and national guidelines and national
targets for the phase-out of MCMMDs.

This report presents findings of capacity-mapping study on the monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution in the Lower Mekong Region. The study was conducted as part of the UN Environment Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific's project titled the *Promotion of ConterMEASUREs against Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India" (hereafter, referred to as * ConterMEASURE project"). The CounterMEASURE project aims to develop a region-based approach for the monitoring and assessment of land-based plastic waste leakage and for pollution reduction into inland water ways, such as rivers, canals and drainage systems, and the eventual transport of plastic waste into the oceans.

The Best Available Techniques (BAT) concept has emerged as a key policy tool to prevent and control industrial emissions, thus ensuring a high level of environmental and human health protection. BAT and similar concepts constitute essential elements for setting emission limit values and other permit conditions for industrial emissions in many countries around the world.

Estimations of the emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) of Asian country was done as a part of the activities of the Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) Programme of AIT RRC.AP. ABC Programme has been supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The estimation of emissions of air pollutants and GHG in Nepal was done by Prof. Ram M. Shrestha who authored a book “Emissions of Air Pollutants and Greenhouse Gases in Nepal”. The book is published by Regional Energy Resources Information Center (RERIC), AIT.  Prof. Shrestha used a bottom-up approach for estimating emissions of air pollutants and GHGs using activity data of the year 2008/09 from all key emission sectors. The book contains a most extensive compilation of data on emission-related activities and represents a comprehensive emission inventory of air pollutants and GHGs in Nepal. The book is highly useful to policymakers as well as to atmospheric science researchers working on air pollution and climate change issues of Nepal and the South Asia region.

The scoping study serves as a preliminary assessment of the current mercury waste management systems and practices in the ASEAN member states (AMS). It is aimed at identifying the current available sources of the relevant information, summarizing the essential information, and identifying gaps of information, challenges, needs and opportunities for further studies or actions. This study covers all AMS jurisdictions, while sector-wise, it focuses on Mercury in the Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM); Mercury waste from the chemical manufacturing industry using the Chlor- Alkali process; as well as mercury in fluorescent lamps from industry and household sources. In terms of the Hazardous Waste Management (HWM) aspects under the BC Art. 4 and MC Art. 11, the study covers policies; legislative and regulatory framework; institutional framework; main sources/generators, waste prevention and minimization; handling, separation, collection, packaging and labelling, transportation, storage; treatment and disposal; and contaminated sites.

This summary report examines the waste management landscape in 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States. This report begins with the statistics on the trends of population growth, urbanization, and economic growth in each of the ASEAN countries, which is then followed by an overview of the waste generation, collection, treatment & recovery, and disposal statistics, and associated environmental, technical, and governance (institutions, policy, regulations) factors in the waste sector. The report also identifies the existing waste management challenges and gaps therein, and sets out recommendations.

The NWMISAP is arranged into five chapters. The first chapter provides the background for the need of a waste management strategy, the existing situation of waste management in Mongolia and the current policy and legal framework. Chapter Two describes the strategy development process. Based on this baseline information, a list of strategies to fill the existing gaps and tap the potential opportunities are laid out in the third chapter. Translating these strategic objectives into actions is presented in Chapter Four. The fifth chapter concludes with arrangements for implementation and monitoring of the NWMISAP.

IN THIS ISSUE:STRENGTHENING MALÉ DECLARATION THROUGHPHASE V (2014-2016) IMPLEMENTATION-Fourteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting-Fourth Meeting of the Task Force for Future Development-Fifth Meeting of the Task Force for Future Development-First Meeting of the Expert Group on Strengthening the -Framework-National Stakeholders Workshop on Health Impact Assessment of Air Pollution

This Beginner’s Guide to the Climate Change Mitigation Funding has been designed for a multitude of stakeholders wishing to contribute to combatting climate change, while taking advantage of the emerging technologies; profiting from energy and resource-efficient approaches, and testing ingenuous ideas. Securing adequate funding is often a first and crucial step on this path.

Keeping Track of Our Changing Environment in Asia and the Pacific was conceived to illustrate how the region has changed in two decades since decision-makers
met at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio De Janeiro in 1992. To convey this information in a compelling and succinct manner, environmental and related socio-economic trends are charted and presented using globally, regionally and nationally-aggregated data sets collected by international agencies, research bodies and other official entities. This regional publication was produced following the structure of the global Keeping Track of Our Changing Environment report.

The Malé Declaration 1998-2013: a Synthesis-Progress and Opportunities highlighted the achievements and results, challenges and opportunities and futures steps on the implementation of the Malé Declaration. Works under the Malé Declaration provide an operational platform for gathering and disseminating reliable information on regional air pollution as a basis for envisaged policy development. The 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. The Malé Declaration has established a platform that can potentially deliver significant benefits for the people of South Asia and their environment. The Malé Declaration network is exclusively owned by the eight participating countries. This joint ownership is an obvious strength for optimal performance of its activities. Safeguarding and strengthening such ownership would facilitate funding of further implementation and programme delivery.