Air quality has improved in some Asian cities, but air pollution remains a threat to health and quality of life in others, says a major new air quality report launched this week.

One particular challenge is that while vehicle emissions are being reduced, the volume of vehicles is rising rapidly across Asia.

The book, Urban Air Pollution in Asian Cities, was released on the eve of the first governmental meeting on urban air quality to be held from December 13 to 14 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, as part of the Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2006 events platform.

One of the main threats to health and life is fine particulate matter -- known at PM10 and PM2.5 -- "that enters our lungs and stays there for some time," the report's lead author, Dr. Dieter Schwela, told a media training workshop held as part of BAQ 2006. It was co-organised by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) and TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"There is a strong association between fine particulate matter and health issues in Asia as there is in Europe and the US, but in Asia the concentrations of particulates are much higher," he said.

The report studied 22 Asian cities. One of its key findings is that the concentration of the fine particulate matter -- PM10 -- is "serious" in Beijing, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Shanghai.

But the report also finds that Shanghai -- along with Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo -- has an "excellent" capacity to manage air quality.

Beijing, Busan and New Delhi were rated as having "good" air quality management capability. All these cities have achieved major reductions in key emissions, the report notes, but still need to address fine particulate pollution from vehicle fumes.

Asia's growth in population, urbanization, motorization and energy consumption remain key challenges to efforts to counter air pollution. For example, lower emissions from vehicles are counter-balanced by the growing number of vehicles.

The book is the result of an international collaborative effort led by the Stockholm Environment Institute's centre at the University of York, United Kingdom, and the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), together with the Korea Environment Institute and the United Nations Environment Programme.

One of the co-authors, Cornie Huizenga, head of the CAI-Asia Secretariat, says the report is the most comprehensive study of its kind to date and that "benchmarking air quality management capabilities allows us to focus more clearly on AQM priorities and enables CAI-Asia to target assistance more effectively."

The World Health Organization estimates that 800,000 people globally -- including 600,000 in Asia -- die prematurely each year due to air pollution.

The urban pollution report finds that, while the ability to manage air quality has generally improved since the 1990s, air quality in most of the studied cities still exceeds international guidelines for the protection of human health for certain pollutants.

Concentrations of sulphur dioxide -- the gas mainly responsible for acid rain -- have stabilized at a relatively low level, and rarely exceed health guidelines. However, the use of high sulphur fuel content in some countries has led to an increase in emissions.

Emissions of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter, mainly from transport, are of concern in all cities experiencing rapid motorization. In addition, tropospheric ozone -- a main constituent of petrochemical smog -- will increase if motor vehicle use continues to rise.

On air quality management, the report identifies Colombo, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila and Mumbai as having "moderate" capability. The report says these cities have reduced sulphur dioxide emissions but have the challenge of addressing transport-related emissions.

Dhaka, Hanoi, Surabaya and Kathmandu have "limited" capability to manage air quality and air pollution data is limited for key pollutants, says the report. These cities need to improve air quality monitoring as well as achieve further reductions in emissions.

Dr. Schwela says many Asian cities can learn from Hong Kong and Tokyo, which are further along the road to achieving better air quality.

The difficulties the authors faced in collecting data reflect the challenges of air quality management in Asia. While many major cities in Asia have some form of air quality management system, "sophistication and completeness is not always adequate"

The principal authors of the report are Dr. Dieter Schwela, Gary Haq and Cornie Huizenga.

The Stockholm Environment Institute is an independent research body based in Stockholm. The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) is a multi-stakeholder network of institutions and individuals committed to improving air quality management in Asia. The report was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Korean Ministry of Environment and the Asian Development Bank.

CAI-Asia and TVEAP have supported two dozen journalists from developing Asia selected from open, competitive applications. After the training workshop, journalists will attend BAQ 2006 events of their choice during December 13 - 15, conducting their own investigations and interviews. An international media resource team assembled by TVE Asia Pacific is available for on-site advice and mentoring of journalists. Television journalists are being provided the free, shared services of a professional camera crew and video editing facilities.

[This news story is partly based on a news release produced by the BAQ Media Team who were observers at the media training workshop.]

See separate story on the media workshop: Clean Air stories need a human face