The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) hosted the third session of the Air Quality Management Exchange (AQMx) webinar series, launching new sectoral guidance dedicated to eliminating open waste burning. The primary objective of AQMx (open burning of waste) is to equip policymakers and practitioners with a practical, step-by-step framework to eradicate open burning, moving beyond theory to implementation. 

In this webinar, Ms. Hayashi from IGES highlighted that pollutants from open waste burning, such as black carbon, travel across city and national borders in Asia. Consequently, local action alone is insufficient; regional cooperation is required to legitimize the issue as a priority. She cited the Kathmandu Declaration (September 2023) as a successful "political anchor." Resulting from structured regional policy dialogue, this declaration helps South Asian countries justify reforms and align national actions with a shared regional vision. She explained that the AQMx guidance supports the Asia Roadmap by translating high-level political commitments into technical, practical steps. It facilitates peer learning to reduce fragmentation and provides the tools necessary to scale city-level pilots into broader actions. 

• Presentation Record and Materials
   

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZX46nRECBZazs38KWO7XO_Tc3Jqlm0VK (all presentations)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I_wIC65G9nOUOIZoa1IuQ6HtvMGA8GHg/view?usp=drive_link (IGES and its consortium members' part only)