The MIO organised an international workshop at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (USTH) on 21-22 October 2019, bringing together 35 researchers and engineers from Southeast Asia and France. The aim of this workshop, organised by Xavier Mari, MIO researcher from the CEM team, was to develop a project for a regional black carbon monitoring network in Southeast Asia, focusing on black carbon concentrations and characteristics in the atmospheric, river (Red River, Mekong, Chao Phraya, Irrawaddy) and marine domains. This workshop was funded by the International Scientific Coordination Network - South: "Impact of Black Carbon in South East Asia" (GDRI-South SOOT-SEA).
This regional black carbon observatory project should be submitted to the French Global Environment Facility (FGEF) in 2020. The long-term aim of the project is to reduce black carbon emissions in order to reduce air pollution (SDG 11), marine pollution (SDG 14), global warming (SDG 13), improve health (SDG 3) and ecosystems (SDG 12), and promote gender equality (SDG 5) and regional correlations (SDG 17).
While the actual 'climate outcome' of the Paris Agreement (PA) will depend on the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), scientific evidence is needed to encourage emission reduction actions and the establishment of adequate national and regional legislative environments, and to define NDCs. This is particularly true in the area of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), such as black carbon. A commitment to reduce global black carbon emissions would be a key step towards mitigating climate change, while providing collateral benefits for public health and environmental quality, and thus aligning the CFP with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The benefits of such a regional monitoring network at the scientific level would be: improved emission inventories for SEA, improved transport and deposition models, determination of deposition and river flows. It would also be beneficial to increase the regional integration of the scientific community around a transboundary issue in Southeast Asia.
To be successful, the project will mobilise a range of stakeholders, from scientists to civil society, to provide evidence-based guidance to decision-makers, communities and individuals as they reform the national regulatory environment, improve their NDC by adding black carbon control targets, encourage behavioural change and evaluate the impact of emission reduction efforts in British Columbia.