Air Quality Action Plans: early indicators of urban local authority practice in England

The delivery of improved local ambient air quality in the UK has emerged through the implementation of the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland [DETR, Welsh Office, Scottish Office, Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, The Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, CM 4548, London, The Stationery Office, 2000] by the air quality management (AQM) regime. Local authorities now have the responsibility to undertake a review and assessment of air quality in their area and to identify locations where health-based objectives are likely to be exceeded. If relevant public exposure exists, an air quality management area must be designated. Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) provide the mechanism by which local authorities, in collaboration with national agencies and others, will state their intentions for working towards the air quality objectives through the powers they have available and by collaboration with other bodies who are in the position of implementing solutions to their air quality hot spots. This management regime will require a new way of local authority working, involving not only local authority joint working but also regional collaboration and co-operation with outside agencies and authorities such as health authorities, regulators of industry and highways managers. Management aspects of the AQM process have been investigated through the data collection from a series of questionnaire surveys. It is argued that the extent to which a local authority is able to show integration of its air quality management responsibilities is an indicator of their capability for delivering AQAPs. Although local authorities appear to be making moves towards a more integrated approach to managing environmental issues, there are still significant gaps in joint working identified through questionnaire surveys and case studies undertaken by the authors. Some recommendations for the successful implementation of AQAPs are also included.     

A policy review of synergies and trade-offs in South African climate change mitigation and air pollution control strategies

Climate change mitigation and air quality management are mostly addressed separately in South African legal acts and policies. This approach is not always coherent, especially in the context of other serious issues South Africa is facing, such as poverty alleviation. Policies implemented to mitigate climate change might increase negative health affects due to unanticipated outcomes (e.g. increased local air pollution), and these indirect consequences must therefore be taken into account when devising mitigation strategies. However, greenhouse gas mitigation policies can also have co-benefits and positive impacts on local air pollution. An evidence-based approach that takes into account greenhouse gas emissions, ambient air pollutants, economic factors (affordability, cost optimisation), social factors (poverty alleviations, public health benefits), and political acceptability is needed tackle these challenges. A proposal is made that use of an integrated climate/air pollution techno-economic optimising model, such as the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Synergies (GAINS) model, may provide a rational decision support tool to guide policy makers into effective strategies for combined Climate Change and Air Quality mitigation measures.     

城市环境空气污染预报研究进展

主要介绍了城市环境空气污染预报的方法,综述了城市环境空气污染预报的国内外研究现状,主要介绍了美国第三代Momdel-3 CMAQ模式系统和中国科学院大气所的嵌套网格空气质量预报系统(NAQPMS),以及最新的多模式污染预报技术,本文最后指出中国目前的大气环境形势比较严峻,城市环境空气污染预报模式还存在一些问题,并探讨了今后的发展方向。     

城市大气自动监测系统监测资料的处理及其应用

本文讨论城市大气自动监测系统资料处理及其应用的某些问题。总结了对数正态分布、指数分布、Г分布和Ｗｅｉｂｕｌｌ分布等分布模型对监测资料分布拟合的适用性及分布模型拟合判别指标。介绍了监测资料在监测时空代表性分析、污染物浓度预防研究方面的应用途径。     

雅安市环境空气质量时空动态变化及改善途径分析

根据雅安市4个空气自动站监测数据,按照《环境空气质量标准》(GB3095-2012)中的二级标准,采用综合污染指数法分析了雅安市2009~2013年环境空气质量时空动态变化趋势及其影响因素。结果表明:从年际变化看,PM1 0和SO 2浓度呈下降趋势,NO2浓度在2013年略有上升;年内变化显示,各污染物浓度季节变化明显,冬季污染最严重,污染程度由高到低的顺序为冬季、秋季、春季、夏季;空间变化显示,SO2浓度存在一定的空间差异性,各监测点位SO 2浓度随年限均呈下降趋势。NO 2和PM 10浓度空间分布差异明显。雅安空气环境综合污染指数呈下降趋势,空气污染程度得到了明显缓解,空气质量逐渐改善,并在上述研究基础上,提出了环境空气质量的改善途径。     

着力构建大气污染防治新机制切实改善环境空气质量

2013年11月16日能源基金会(美国)主办的"重塑蓝天:空气质量管理国际研讨会"在北京召开。环境保护部污染防治司司长赵英民、能源基金会主席Eric Heitz、中国工程院院士、清华大学环境学院教授郝吉明、原环境保护部核安全总工程师杨朝飞等200多位业界领导、专家、学者和媒体人士参加会议。国内外专家针对中国面临的空气质量问题,从宏观战略、区域防治和行业政策等方面展开深入讨论,提出应对方案。会上环境保护部污染防治司赵英民司长代表中国环境保护部致辞,他回顾中国政府大气污染防治工作进展,指出下一步中国大气污染防治工作将积极贯彻国务院近期出台的《大气污染防治行动计划》,以保障人民群众身体健康为出发点,大力推进生态文明建设,着力构建大气污染防治的新机制,切实改善环境空气质量。本文根据赵司长致辞录音整理以飨读者。     

珠三角区域空气质量指数(RAQI)的研究

区域空气质量指数(Regional Air Quality Index,RAQI)是粤港政府联合发布、反映珠三角区域内不同地区的空气质量状况的评级系统。虽然RAQI综合考虑了空气污染的总量水平,较我国空气污染指数(Air Pollution Index,API)系统增加了O3,一定程度地考虑了大气氧化性增高的问题,但其所表征的空气质量状况与实际空气污染水平和公众感受仍存在差异。对2006年珠三角和香港监测数据的研究表明,RAQI较API能更充分地体现空气质量的分级;小时RAQI能够实时准确地反映了环境质量的变化,较每日RAQI更具有实际意义;加入PM2.5或采用不同的O3、PM10和PM2.5环境质量标准,是影响RAQI的重要因素。PM2.5/PM10为0.7,比世界卫生组织推荐的PM2.5/PM10为0.5的比例更符合珠三角的实际情况。因此,增加细粒子污染物PM2.5,适当调严某些污染物的环境质量标准,增加RAQI的发布频次,可以使RAQI更全面、准确地反映区域空气污染状况,是RAQI改进的方向。     

空气污染指数模式的改进

我国目前以空气污染指数API报告各城市的环境空气质量。由于我国各地环境空气质量状况差异很大,该方法在报告城市空气质量时具有较大的片面性,不能综合反应污染状况。本文针对现行的API指数法进行了模式推算和改进,新的计算模式可更客观全面地反映城市空气质量。     

Moving towards ambitious climate policies: Monetised health benefits from improved air quality could offset mitigation costs in Europe

Air quality and related health effects are not only affected by policies directly addressed at air pollution but also by other environmental strategies such as climate mitigation. This study addresses how different climate policy pathways indirectly bear upon air pollution in terms of improved human health in Europe. To this end, we put in perspective mitigation costs and monetised health benefits of reducing PM_2.5 (particles less than 2.5 μm in diameter) and ozone concentrations.Air quality in Europe and related health impacts were assessed using a comprehensive modelling chain, based on global and regional climate and chemistry-transport models together with a health impact assessment tool. This allows capturing both the impact of climate policy on emissions of air pollutants and the geophysical impact of climate change on air quality.Results are presented for projections at the 2050 horizon, for a set of consistent air pollution and climate policy scenarios, combined with population data from the UN's World Population Prospects, and are expressed in terms of morbidity and mortality impacts of PM_2.5 and ozone pollution and their monetised damage equivalent.The analysis shows that enforcement of current European air quality policies would effectively reduce health impacts from PM_2.5 in Europe even in the absence of climate policies (life years lost from the exposure to PM_2.5 decrease by 78% between 2005 and 2050 in the reference scenario), while impacts for ozone depend on the ambition level of international climate policies. A move towards stringent climate policies on a global scale, in addition to limiting global warming, creates co-benefits in terms of reduced health impacts (68% decrease in life years lost from the exposure to PM_2.5 and 85% decrease in premature deaths from ozone in 2050 in the mitigation scenario relative to the reference scenario) and air pollution cost savings (77%) in Europe. These co-benefits are found to offset at least 85% of the additional cost of climate policy in this region.     

Design and demonstration of a next-generation air quality attainment assessment system for PM2.5 and O3

Due to the increasingly stringent standards, it is important to assess whether the proposed emission reduction will result in ambient concentrations that meet the standards. The Software for Model Attainment Test—Community Edition (SMAT-CE) is developed for demonstrating attainment of air quality standards of O₃ and PM_2.5. SMAT-CE improves computational efficiency and provides a number of advanced visualization and analytical functionalities on an integrated GIS platform. SMAT-CE incorporates historical measurements of air quality parameters and simulated air pollutant concentrations under a number of emission inventory scenarios to project the level of compliance to air quality standards in a targeted future year. An application case study of the software based on the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) shows that SMAT-CE is capable of demonstrating the air quality attainment of annual PM_2.5 and 8-hour O₃ for a proposed emission control policy.     

兰州市大气主要污染物环境与健康风险评价

为了解兰州市大气污染现状,评价其环境质量和健康风险,选择兰州市污染较重的西固区和污染较轻的榆中县为研究区域,定位监测并分析颗粒物、SO₂和NO_x等大气主要污染物的分布特征,采用环境空气质量指数法评价兰州市大气污染现状,重点分析颗粒物的构成特征和健康风险. 结果表明:兰州市大气污染物分布呈明显的季节性、区域性特点;大气颗粒物MMD(质量中值直径)在3.2~7.9 μm之间,属细颗粒型;西固区环境空气质量指数及污染水平普遍高于榆中县,其中位于西固区的西固第二小学采样点污染较为严重,污染水平为五级,需要采取控制措施;兰州市15 m大气高度PM₁₀的健康风险高于30和1.5 m,兰州市PM_2.5和PM₁₀的健康风险属于可接受风险范围.      

Bridging the gap between ecosystem service assessments and land-use planning through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

Land-use planning is an important determinant for green space policy in cities. It defines land covers and hence the structure and function of urban ecosystems and the benefits these provide to humans, such as air purification, urban cooling, runoff mitigation, and recreation. The ecosystem service approach has helped to attract policy attention to these benefits but the concept remains poorly implemented in urban policy and governance. To address this gap, we advance a framework to bridge ecosystem services into policy processes through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) as decision support tool. The paper is organized in three main parts. First, we conduct a systematic literature review to assess state-of-the-art knowledge on ecosystem service assessments through MCDA. Next, we build on insights from the literature review to develop the ‘ecosystem services policy-cycle’, a conceptual framework that merges the ‘ecosystem service cascade’ and ‘policy cycle’ models to reinforce the link between ecosystem service assessments and practical applications in urban policy and governance. Next, we illustrate the applicability of the proposed framework along an example about conflicting interests on land use and green space planning following the closure of the Airport Tempelhof in Berlin, Germany. Our results highlight the scope of MCDA as a decision support tool for integrating ecosystem service assessments in green space governance. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of different methodological choices in the use of MCDA in ecosystem service assessments and note that a key strength of this tool in informing green space policies lies in its capacity to accommodate conflicting stakeholder perspectives and to address trade-offs between ecological, social and economic values.     

Overview of current regional and local scale air quality modelling practices: Assessment and planning tools in the EU

The 2008 European Air Quality Directive (AQD) (2008/50/EC) encourages the use of models in combination with monitoring in a range of applications. It also requires Member States to design appropriate air quality plans for zones where the air quality does not comply with the AQD limit values. In order to cope with these various elements, a wide range of different modeling methods have been developed and applied by EU Member States in the last decade to assess the effects of local and regional emission abatement policy options on air quality and human health. However, an overall review of the methodologies that are used in different countries to compile local and regional air quality plans has not been performed so far. Such a review has been the objective of the APPRAISAL EU FP7 project with the main goal to identify methodologies and their limitations and to propose possible key areas to be addressed by research and innovation on the basis of this review. To fulfill these objectives, a structured online database of methodologies has been developed in collaboration with experts involved in the design of air quality plans (AQP). The current work relies on the APPRAISAL database which currently totals 59 contributions from 13 Member States. In this paper we summarize the outcome of the APPRAISAL project with respect to the review of current Integrated Assessment Modeling practices.     

Minimizing air pollution exposure: A practical policy to protect vulnerable older adults from death and disability

Air pollution causes an estimated 200,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. Older adults are at greater risk of mortality caused by air pollution. Here we quantify the number of older adult facilities in Los Angeles County who are exposed to high levels of traffic derived air pollution, and propose policy solutions to reduce pollution exposure to this vulnerable subgroup. Distances between 20,362 intersections and 858 elder care facilities were estimated, and roads or highways within 500 of facilities were used to estimate traffic volume exposure. Of the 858 facilities, 54 were located near at least one major roadway, defined as a traffic volume over 100,000 cars per day. These 54 facilities house approximately 6000 older adults. Following standards established for schools, we recommend legislation mandating the placement of new elder care facilities a minimum of 500 ft from major roadways in order to reduce unnecessary mortality risk from pollution exposure.     

美国洛杉矶空气管理经验分析

过去35年间,洛杉矶的经济和人口持续增长、城市扩张,但是洛杉矶的空气污染水平得到了下降,在达到加利福利亚州和《清洁空气法》所规定的大气质量总体目标方面,有了长足的进步.期间起到重大作用的因素包括:①固定污染源和移动污染源气体污染物排放的控制技术和企业实践的巨大进步.②联邦、州和地区的清洁空气政策的发展.③强有力的专门负责清洁空气政策的监督和执行行政机构的设立.④公众压力.⑤从信任政府运用命令与控制手段到利用激励手段和市场手段完成许多政策目标(包括空气污染控制)的变革.同时,该地区的人口还在持续增长,经济继续繁荣扩张,意味着将产生更多的空气污染物,尤其是来自移动污染源的污染物.另外,在公众不太支持加强政府力量或增加税收的形势下,要求政策制定者解决空气污染的问题或大幅度改变洛杉矶居民的生活方式.     

天然气应用对兰州大气环境的影响

煤烟型污染是兰州市大气污染严重的主要原因之一，西气东输工程对改变兰州市能源结构，改善城市环境质量具有非常重要的意义。根据兰州市大气污染现状和特性，以2000年为基准，分析研究了兰州市利用天然气前后能源结构，主要污染源及大气污染物排放量的变化。针对污染源状况和兰州市天然气用气规划，选用适宜模式预测了兰州市利用天然气后的各主要污染物的年平均浓度，计算了空气质量的改善程度。     

昆明市主城区环境空气质量及变化趋势

根据2001～2010年昆明市主城区城市例行监测数据,按照《环境空气质量标准》（GB3095—1996）中的二级标准,采用综合污染指数法分析了昆明市主城区近10a环境空气质量的现状、变化趋势及影响。昆明市环境空气质量总体保持良好水平,可吸入颗粒物呈现明显下降趋势,二氧化氮逐渐成为污染负荷中贡献率最大污染物,从而表明大气污染已经从煤烟型向机动车尾气型污染转化。受牡理、气候条件影响明显,二氧化硫、二氧化氮、可吸入颗粒物等污染物存在季节变化规律,夏秋季节明显好于冬春季节。     

Modelling individual preferences for environmental policy drivers: Empirical evidence of Italian lifestyle changes using a latent class approach

Degraded air quality severely affects the health of citizens worldwide. The design of effective policies requires exploring public preferences for environmental and air quality policy instruments. Within the EC-FP7 SEFIRA project, using a choice experiment that stresses the trade-offs between attributes, this study investigates public preferences for environmental policy drivers in Italy. The main objective is to investigate the role played by selected policy drivers in determining policy preferences, complemented by elasticity and willingness to pay estimations. Preference heterogeneity and the role of socio-economic and attitudinal variables are explored with a latent class model over 2400 respondents sampled across Italy. The results allow identifying the different role played by the policy drivers across the classes. It emerged that most of the respondents (43%) are particularly sensitive to the cost components (cost sensitive respondents). The remaining respondents instead show an important sensitivity towards personal engagement in term of changes in the mobility and eating habits (lifestyle-change sensitive respondents). However, while 29% of them perceive these habits’ changes as negatively impacting on the personal utility, the other 28% of respondents translate the potential changes in the habitual behaviour of driving and eating as environmental and health benefits. Based on the modelling results, potential policies are simulated reporting respondents’ reaction to selected scenarios. It shows the crucial role played by reduction of premature deaths due to atmospheric pollution and measure cost.     

Quantification and control of microbial pollution from agriculture: a new policy challenge?

Faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) are commonly used to quantify pollution of public health significance. Health protection, as indexed by FIO control, is a central aim of new ‘catchment-scale’ water quality management required in the USA by the Clean Water Act and in the European Union (EU) by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Experience of the former, after a decade of implementation, suggests that the most significant reason for water quality ‘impairment’ is elevated FIO concentrations, mainly in recreational and shellfish harvesting waters. This provides an early warning of possible problems which the EU regulatory authorities are likely to face. To date, however, a surprising lack of EU attention has been given to prediction and control of catchment fluxes of this key parameter. This is likely to prove embarrassing if the experience of the US regulatory community is not acted upon with some urgency. There is a growing, though still partial, body of empirical science to form the ‘evidence-base’ for good regulatory practice. However, adoption of ‘best management practices’ (BMPs) to effect remediation of impacted waters will require close integration of water policy with policies on financial support for the farming community. This is likely to require enhanced communication and integration within the discrete policy communities addressing the agricultural sector through the Common Agricultural Policy and water regulation through the Water Framework Directive.     

Anatomy of a buzzword: The emergence of ‘the water-energy-food nexus’ in UK natural resource debates

The existence of a water-energy-food ‘nexus’ has been gaining significant attention in international natural resource policy debates in recent years. We argue the term ‘nexus’ can be currently seen as a buzzword: a term whose power derives from a combination of ambiguous meaning and strong normative resonance. We explore the ways in which the nexus terminology is emerging and being mobilised by different stakeholders in natural resource debates in the UK context. We suggest that in the UK the mobilisation of the nexus terminology can best be understood as symptomatic of broader global science-policy trends, including an increasing emphasis on integration as an ideal; an emphasis on technical solutions to environmental problems; achievement of efficiency gains and ‘win-wins’; and a preference for technocratic forms of environmental managerialism. We identify and critique an ‘integrative imaginary’ underpinning much of the UK discourse around the concept of the nexus, and argue that attending to questions of power is a crucial but often underplayed aspect of proposed integration. We argue that while current efforts to institutionalise the language of the nexus as a conceptual framework for research in the UK may provide a welcome opportunity for new forms of transdisciplinary, they may risk turning nexus into a ‘matter of fact’ where it should remain a ‘matter of concern’. In this vein, we indicate the importance of critique to the development of nexus research.