Clean Air for Smaller Cities
… is a project, financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which aims at improving the air quality, in particular, in non-metropolitan areas of some ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). Development and implementation of "clean air plans" is our approach.
Our perspective is networking, knowledge management and providing a new access to the global clean air community for all interested target groups. The project started in January 2009 and our webpage will reflect the development of the project. Visit this website regularly to read about new developments.
Please click the link or the map of each country in order to view the country profile
Cambodia | Indonesia | Laos | Malaysia | Philippines | Thailand | Vietnam
Air Pollution
Clean air is a prerequisite for good quality of human life as well as for the health of animals and plants and to avoid damage to soils and buildings.
In many cities of the world, however, inhabitants should be reminded, and visitors welcomed with warning signs:
Indeed, the air pollution levels in many urban areas worldwide reach concentrations that cause severe damage to human health, animals and infrastructures.
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Causes
Poor air quality in urban areas is mainly caused by combustion of fuel by industries, households and vehicles, as well as forest fires and dust. Pollutants are either emitted directly or are the result of chemical reactions.
Pollutants provoke a wide range of negative health effects such as lung and heart malfunctions, bronchitis or asthma. Cancer risk increases as the air quality degrades.
Inadequate urban planning, the establishment of satellite cities and the preference of individual over public transport result in increasing motor vehicle mileage which in turn increases the level of air pollution in urban conglomerates.
Fast growing industries applying outdated technology, the use of poor quality fuel or coal, the lack of land-use planning allowing heavily polluting factories to produce in urban dwelling centres also contribute to poor air quality.
If air pollution combat takes place at all, it is certainly in metropolitan areas.
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Challenge
Smaller cities are hardly considered. Although these smaller cities play a vital role in national development, they suffer from extensive environmental degradation, the extent of which is often not even known.
These smaller cities are rather neglected in the overall development planning as well as in national and international consideration. They lack capacities to generate sufficient local financial resources and often suffer from weak capacities to utilise available resources.
Strong and effective administrative structures are rare and adequate numbers of trained technical personnel are lacking.
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Objective, output, benefit
The overall objective of the programme is to empower smaller cities to develop and implement “Clean Air Action Plans” with the participation of civil society and the private sector.
In its initial phase, up to 14 cities of between 200,000 – 1.5 million inhabitants shall be supported in the development and implementation of “Clean Air Action Plans”. Advisory services for baseline conditions assessments and for seeking financial assistance through Development Banks will be also provided.
Co-benefits with climate change approaches are seen as substantial and may help to additionally attract funds from specialised financing institutions.
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Approach
National workshops will be held in seven ASEAN countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam). They aim to sensitize for clean air issues. Two cities will be selected per country and will then receive support in detailed planning and implementation.
As far as possible, civil society, private sectors and other stakeholders shall be involved in the development and execution of clean air measures. This helps in creating public awareness and triggers the motivation of the public to support these measures.
Trainings for public and private sector personnel as well as for NGO's will be organised and sustainably established at regional, national and local levels.
Wherever necessary, the national level will be involved to support cities with the relevant legal and institutional framework.
International conferences at ASEAN level will take place once a year with the purpose of disseminating experience gained from the selected cities to others.
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The Project Partners
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ASEAN Secretariat
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967. The Member States of the Association are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. The ASEAN region has a population of about 575 million (2007), a total area of 4.4 million square kilometres, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 1,282 billion (2007) and a total trade volume of about US$ 1,616 billion (2007). -
Secretariat of AWGESC
The ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AWGESC) was formed in June 2003 by the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN). Its aim is to develop strategies and action plans to drive the ASEAN Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AIESC). -
The GTZ
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (German Technical Cooperation) operates in more than 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, as well as in Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. It maintains its own offices in 92 countries. GTZ employs nearly 12,000 staff, more than 9,000 of whom are national personnel. About 1,500 people are employed at Head Office in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main and at various locations within Germany.
Other important partners:
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National and international city associations
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City Development Initiative for Asia (recently founded by German Government (BMZ) and Asian Development Bank (ADB)
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World Bank, Asian Development Bank, German Development Bank (KfW), European Union and other donors
Contributions
The German Government provides
- international and regional long-term personnel,
- national/local experts for the management of clean air plans monitoring and evaluation in the cities,
- international, regional and local short-term experts of up to 70 expert months and
- funds to organise local, national and regional workshops as well as trainings for the dissemination of experiences.
The ASEAN Secretariat will
- facilitate the coordination/ implementation of the project,
- take active part in the Steering Committee’s meetings and
- further support the ASEAN Working Group for Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AWGESC) and its chairperson in promoting sustainable urban development in the ASEAN Region.
National and city governments shall
- provide sufficient counterpart personnel to set-up and implement clean air action plans in the participating cities (national and city level),
- provide funds as agreed in the action plans (city and national level), support the cities in facilitating implementation of plans, e.g. legislation, budgeting (national level)
- contribute on a cost-sharing basis to the project implementation cost.