Every year, in the pre-monsoon season (March - May), the Kathmandu valley experiences a double burden of exposure to high levels of forest fire (smoke) and air pollution. This year, too, was no different with the situation escalating toward its worst during the last week of March and the beginning of April.
With the incineration of agricultural residues long recognised as a key cause of South Asia’s air pollution crisis, it is time to embrace no-burn alternatives.
As another winter sets in, air quality has again become a worrying issue for Nepal, but a recent agreement between the Department of Environment and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development holds the promise of better air for the country.
Hundreds of millions of people across the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and Himalayan Foothills (HFH) are still breathing hazardous air ....
In 2013, Beijing had some of the worst air quality in the world: a decade on emissions have plummeted. Five years after he was last in China to work on air quality management, Bertrand Bessagnet, who coordinates ICIMOD’s work on air quality, returns to a city transformed, to find out how China got it so right, and what next.
Air respects no borders, nor does the pollution it carries. When crop residues are burned […]
The Thimphu Outcome summarizes the key discussions and recommendations from the Second Regional Science Policy Dialogue on Air Quality Management in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF) held on June 26-27, 2024, co-organized by ICIMOD and the World Bank, in partnership with the Royal Government of Bhutan.
With twice the number of forest fires recorded in the first two weeks of April versus the March total, air quality has plummeted and nature loss is rising. Data tools, training, early-warning, and the revival of traditional forest management practices offer a way to reduce the frequency and severity of forest fires.
Zig-zag technology promises cleaner and more efficient burning of fuel, resulting in better-quality bricks