Opening

Dr.Vanisa Surapipith, Head of Air Pollution Cluster at AIT RRC.AP, welcomed the speakers and participants. She reminded that Malé Declaration was adopted in 1998 at the 7th Governing Council of SACEP, held in Malé, following a round-table policy dialogue held by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) at AIT. It was also highlighted that air quality modeling is an important tool to link emissions from sources to receptors, assess transboundary transport, and provide a regional perspective for policy scenarios and decision-making.

Presentations Session

Three experts presented advanced tools and methodologies for air quality management:

• The first presentation was delivered by Dr.Bhupesh Adhikary, Policy Lead, Environment and Climate Change, Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS), Nepal, on “Development of Modelling Capacity in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothill (IGP-HF).” In his presentation, he highlighted that despite severe PM2.5 pollution, regional research remains limited to observational data rather than advanced modeling. Bridging this gap requires an interdisciplinary approach, yet progress is currently hindered by critical deficiencies, including a lack of dedicated centers, regulatory frameworks, skilled personnel, and South-South cooperation. Dr.Adhikary emphasized that while cutting-edge technological solutions like AI and satellite data assimilation exist globally, governments must establish clear policy frameworks and institutional demand to transform these models from academic concepts into practical tools for environmental mitigation and decision-making.
• The second presentation was delivered by Dr.Gaurav Govardhan from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, on behalf of Dr.Sachin Ghude, on “Development of Air Quality Modelling and Forecasting for New Delhi, India.” He presented the operational Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) developed at IITM Pune for New Delhi and South Asia. The system provides forecasts at different scales, including 10 km for India/South Asia and 400 m for Delhi for the next three days. He highlighted the importance of chemical data assimilation using satellite data, surface measurements, and fire activities, as well as the use of high-resolution emission inventories. Dr. Govardhan explained that AQEWS performs well for most air quality categories, but further improvement is needed for extreme pollution events, especially when AQI is above 400. He also discussed recent model developments, including ensemble-based probabilistic forecasting, improved representation of Secondary Organic Aerosols, and the inclusion of urban morphology to better capture PM2.5 peaks during critical events. He emphasized that air quality forecasting is not only a scientific tool but also supports policy decisions through decision-support systems that estimate contributions from different districts and sectors.
• The third presentation was delivered by Prof. Prabir K. Patra, Visiting Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, and Principal Scientist at JAMSTEC, Japan, on the Aakash Project and its modeling work on particulate air pollution and sustainable agriculture in Northwest India. He explained that the Aakash Project carried out continuous measurements at 30 sites in Northwest India during September - November from 2022 to 2024. The project also established the capability to distribute observed and model data in near real time to support policymaking. Prof. Patra highlighted that surface observations showed very high PM2.5 concentrations in Punjab during the crop residue burning period, especially at night. He noted that satellite fire hotspot data may not always reflect the actual pollution measured at the surface. Based on model comparisons and three independent model studies, he emphasized that crop residue burning has a weak role in Delhi-NCR PM2.5 concentration compared with local emissions. He stressed that Delhi-NCR's high PM2.5 is primarily due to local emissions, and that stronger observations and process-based modeling are needed to support realistic, evidence-based policy decisions.

Concluding Remarks

In her concluding remarks, Prof.Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, Distinguished Emeritus Professor at AIT and Director of the Center for Nexus of Air Quality, Health, Ecosystem, and Climate, congratulated the organizers for launching the webinar series. She highlighted that the presentations showed “very good modelling capacity” in the region and stressed that “air pollution knows no border.” She noted that modeling tools are important to track dispersion, transport, and source contribution, and to answer key policy questions on why pollution is high, where it comes from, and what should be controlled. She also emphasized the growing role of AI, machine learning, satellite data, and local sensor data, while reminding that these tools need big datasets with good quality.

Closing

Dr.Vanisa Surapipith thanked Prof. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, all speakers, and participants, for their valuable contributions. She highlighted that the Malé Declaration revival activities will continue this year and next year and encouraged continued discussion among Malé Declaration countries on the next steps for strengthening regional air quality management. On behalf of AIT RRC.AP and SACEP, she thanked all participants and expressed hope of meeting them again in future webinars, training, and regional activities.