GAW Report No. 205 - IGAC Project

CHAPTER 7 – OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ACTIVITIESGovernance – and seven “fields of application” (Suppan and Schmitz, pers. comm.). CAI-LACstarted in 1998, and it was re-organized in 2006. The original purpose was to establish acomprehensive approach to addressing air quality challenges in Latin America. The initial phasesupported the development and enhancement of clean air action plans in large urban areasthroughout Latin America, enhanced scientific knowledge and understanding of urban air qualityand its associated impacts on human health, and provided decision makers with tools for assessingpolicy options. According to their web page, the restructuring of the original phase of the initiativewas envisioned to revitalize efforts by, among other things, creating a forum for strategy and projectdevelopment, as well as for channelling training, technical assistance, and information exchange ata regional level. Focal points of this initiative reside in environmental agencies and are largelydisconnected from academia.7.7 CAREBEIJINGCAREBEIJING (Campaigns of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Regions)was an international collaborative research project to study the regional transport andtransformation processes of air pollution that impact air quality in Beijing and to formulate airpollution control strategies for 2008 Beijing Olympics and the long-term strategies for the region.CAREBEIJING was funded by Beijing Council of Science and Technology and coordinated by TongZhu of Peking University, it has conducted three campaigns in 2006, 2007, and 2008, with activeparticipation of more than 200 scientists and graduate students from 21 research institutes in Asia(mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea), Europe (Germany, Italy), and USA.Beijing is a megacity with a population close to 20 million and air pollution is a seriousconcern. With 14 stages of air pollution control in the last decade, the air quality in Beijing has beensignificantly improving. Yet this improvement is undermined by rapid increases in the number ofvehicles and energy consumption in Beijing, as well as the regional transport of air pollutants fromhighly industrialized area surrounding Beijing. The objectives of CAREBEIJING included:1. To learn about the current environmental conditions of the region, including social andeconomical factors, air quality, and emission sources.2. To identify the transport and transformation processes that lead to air pollutants surroundingregions to impact air quality in Beijing.3. To calculate the impact of the surrounding regions on air quality in Beijing.4. To formulate policy suggestion for air quality attainment during the 2008 Beijing Olympicgame.5. To propose objectives and strategy of air quality attainment in 2010 in Beijing.6. To design a regional air quality management framework and propose policy suggestions forregional air quality control.7. To evaluate the effectiveness of air quality control policies.8. To evaluate the health impacts of air pollution before and during the 2008 Olympics.To achieve these objectives, CAREBEIJING conducted intensive field campaigns based onground, aircraft, and satellite observations. The data was used to validate emission inventories andregional air quality models (Figure 10).The campaigns in 2006, 2007, and 2008 all served a different purpose:CAREBEIJING-2006:CAREBEIJING-2007:CAREBEIJING-2008:To understand the transport and transformation process of regional airpollutionTo evaluate air quality control policies proposed for the 2008 Olympicsbased on the findings of CAREBEIJING 2006To evaluate the effectiveness of the air quality control policies and theirimpacts on health265