In the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region, technology transfer and capacity building have been integral to the successful regional cooperation in addressing air pollution, in particular within the framework of UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. As of March 2006, this Convention has 50 Parties from a region with 55 States, but new parties to the Convention still need assistance in implementation. Moreover, assistance is necessary to enable more States to ratify and implement the convention and its protocols. In these regards, Central Asia remains an area of focus, particularly as it is a link between Europe and East Asia. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan both ratified the convention in 2000, but they have yet to accede to any of the Convention’s protocols.
The UN Development Account (UNDA) is financing a project to strengthen the capacity of air quality management institutions in Central Asia to implement the LRTAP and its protocols. It will involve technical, policy, legal, economic and institutional analysis and reforms of air quality management in Central Asia, development of sub-regional capacity in air quality management and development of air monitoring in Central Asia as a link between monitoring systems in Europe and Asia. It will facilitate sub-regional networking and information dissemination through an Internet/intranet system and promote the introduction of low-cost, fast payback methods for improving the energy efficiency and environmental performance of solid fuel combustion technologies for heat and power generation. It will provide assistance with sustainable energy policy and energy pricing reforms and explore investment project finance for clean coal technology deployment.
For more information, see http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/welcome.html