[sustran] Breaking Records in 2010: Air Quality, Climate Change and Transport in Asia: A Year in Review

[Kaye Patdu]

**Apologies for cross-posting**

*Breaking Records in 2010: Air Quality, Climate Change and Transport in Asia
*
*A Year in Review*

As part of CAI-Asia mission to promote better air quality and livable
cities, CAI-Asia conducted an annual review of main events relevant to air
quality, climate change and transport in Asia. The review, which started on
2008 and initially focused on sustainable transport (
http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/4029), has now expanded to include
air quality and climate events. It is an opportunity to look back and
understand where Asia focused in the past year and foresee the emerging
trends in Asia in the coming years.

The message for 2011 is clear. Policymakers need to understand that
sustainable city as such is an important development issue. It is clear that
a city can grow its economy while at the same time preserving blue skies and
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need for this urgent
transformation. Asian cities are set to populate with 500 million Asians in
the next decades. It is a huge challenge, a huge responsibility and a huge
opportunity.

*Read the full report here: *http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/node/7045

[image: 2010.jpg]
*What is your city's future?*

*The main highlights for the 2010 Year in Review are:*

In last half a decade, climate change concerns started dominating
discussions on transport and air quality and this trend continued in 2010.
While the newspapers and conferences across Asia highlighted the term “low
carbon”, many across Asia decided to own vehicles. Record-high vehicles
sales were observed in several Asian countries in 2010 as countries recorded
robust economic recovery, greater stability but deteriorating public
transport accessibility and mobility. Air quality across Asia remained a
reason for big concern in year 2010 with latest research indicating that 80%
of global population lives in areas above WHO guideline for PM2.5.

Year 2010 will also be remembered for initiatives taken during
“international events and games”. While athletes across Asia were competing
to break records, policy makers were driving massive funds towards various
initiatives. Governments utilized events like Shanghai World EXPO, Delhi
Commonwealth games and Guangzhou Asian games to create long term
infrastructure for air quality monitoring, public and non motorized
transport and vehicle movement. While, lessons learnt from Beijing Olympics
were utilized to make short drastic improvements in cities like Shanghai,
Guangzhou and New Delhi, traffic congestion in Beijing however created a new
record with a nine day long 100km traffic jam.

Countries across Asia are plotting different plans for “fuel”. The Indian
government freed petrol from all pricing controls and thus unleashed a craze
for diesel which was kept under government control and underpriced. While 13
big cities in India moved to Euro-4 fuel to reduce the pollution, rest of
India had to contend with Euro-3 fuel and no action plan for future.
Pakistan, Vietnam and Philippines decided to finally act and discuss with
various stakeholders to create a roadmap for Euro-4 fuel with reduced sulfur
content. While the debate across Asia was on cleaner fuel, Sri Lanka decided
to make vehicles more accessible to people. It was a step back and a big
setback as it slashed duties on cars, among others, with immediate effect in
a bid to boost post-war economic activity.

As in the past few years, BRTS was the main driver for public transport and
new cities like Guangzhou and Bangkok launched new BRT systems. Nearly 82
such systems are being planned or being initiated in Asia. A concept which
sprouted in Latin America is being truly harvested in Asia. There is no need
to celebrate yet. Surveys conducted in 2010 have found the accessibility to
such massive public transport systems and even normal bus systems to be very
poor.

We welcome your queries, feedback, or suggestions!

-- 
Cheers
Kaye

Maria Katherina Patdu
*Air Quality Researcher
*
*Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia Center) Center*
T +63 2 395 2843 to 45 | F +63 2 395 2846 | M +63 927 441 5692 |
kaye.patdu at cai-asia.org
Unit 3504-05, 35F, Robinsons-Equitable Tower, ADB Avenue, Pasig City, 1605,
Philippines

Visit our new portal: http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/

*Please consider the environment before printing this email.*
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