6 September 2020 Trinidad and Tobago is first Caribbean nation to join the BreatheLife campaign

Trinidad and Tobago has joined the BreatheLife campaign, pledging to reach an interim air quality target for fine particulate matter under WHO air quality guidelines by end-2025, and achieving this through action across the economy.

Trinidad and Tobago has joined the BreatheLife campaign, pledging to reach an interim air quality target for fine particulate matter under WHO air quality guidelines by end-2025, and achieving this through action across the economy.

 

The prosperous Caribbean nation has committed to attaining safe air quality by tightening its Air Pollution Rules (2014) to align its air quality standards for fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) with WHO’s guidelines’ interim Target 3. Under this, the 24-hour concentration standard for PM2.5 will be reduced from the current 65 μg/m3 to 35 μg/m3 by the end of 2025.

Recognizing the impact air quality has on human health, the country’s Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 2019 began working on a Roadmap for Air Quality for Trinidad and Tobago and a Stakeholders Matrix for beneficiaries and interested parties for air quality in the country. Greater collaboration among the EMA, PAHO and Ministry of Health is envisioned, to link air quality data and non-communicable disease statistics in the country.

Trinidad and Tobago has also ratified the Paris Agreement, under which it has committed to reducing cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from a business as usual (BAU) baseline by 15 per cent in the transport, industry and power generation sectors, to be achieved by 2030.

“We are aware of the adverse health effects of both short-term and long-term exposure to particulate matter, and that no air quality standard can guarantee complete protection for all citizens against all possible adverse health effects of particulate matter,” said Managing Director of the Environmental Management Authority, Mr. Hayden Romano, “but we are committed to achieving the lowest concentrations possible in the context of local constraints, capabilities and public health priorities, as advised by the WHO.”

The country of just over 1.36 million people intends to achieve its proposed targets by tracking air quality and reduction progress through a national ambient air quality monitoring network, currently being expanded; enhancing its registration and permitting regime for facilities that emit air pollutants, and upholding commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Read the full story here.

最新帖子
故事

清洁烹饪可以拯救生命,保护自然,对抗气候危机——但为何全球仍有三分之一的人在使用污染环境的燃料?

新闻稿

在今年的国际清洁空气和蓝天日前夕,气候与清洁空气联盟(CCAC)开发并推出了空气质量管理交流平台(AQMx),以协助各地的空气质量专家应对空气污染问题。该一站式服务平台面向世界卫生组织空气质量指南的临时目标,提供最新的空气质量管理指南和工具。