BAGUIO CITY – The City has been chosen as one of the pilot areas for Clean Air Certification, an international recognition of “innovative and impactful, voluntary action towards better air quality” given by the Clean Cities Air Partnership Program (CCAP) through the Clean Air Asia (CCA).
The declaration was made during the 17th IUPPA (International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations) World Clean Air Congress and 9th CAA Better Air Quality Conference held last August 29-Sept. 2 in Busan, South Korea.
City environment and parks management officer Cordelia Lacsamana represented Mayor Mauricio Domogan to the conference where she presented the city’s current air quality situation and shared opportunities that the certification process could offer to Baguio City.
“Working towards certification is a way that our efforts can be recognized and we can feel confident we are moving in the right direction,” Lacsamana told the conference.
Baguio will join three other Philippine cities – Iloilo City and Sta. Rosa in Laguna – and two cities in Asia – Malang in Indonesia and Kathmandu in Nepal as pilot areas for the certification process before it will be opened to wider participation.
The CCA recognized the five cities for their “expression of commitment to clean air action.”
Lacsamana said that as a pilot area, the city stands to receive technical assistance for emissions inventory, a city-to-city partnership program and city certification program for air quality management.
The CCA said the Clean Air Certification “is a way to build momentum to meet clean air targets and provides a mechanism for cities to learn from each other and collectively address issues, national governments to recognize and resource local commitments, research institutions to align research around identified needs and increased business and investor confidence that improves economic outcomes.”
“The standard has been developed drawing on input from a balanced and representative group of stakeholders. This includes city networks air quality management specialists and experts in addressing pollution from transport, area sources and stationary sources.”
Aside from the IUPPA and the CCA, the conference was also co-organized by the Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment (KOSAE)./Aileen P. Refuerzo
