ASIA-AFRICA REGULATORS CONCLAVE ON SMART & AFFORDABLE MONITORING

CSE is organizing a global workshop on SMART and Affordable Monitoring titled “Asia-Africa Regulators Conclave on SMART & Affordable monitoring”, which is scheduled from 5 to 7 February 2018.

Two of the main factors of sustainable development are air and water quality. Since they are important for basic human needs and development, it is therefore imperative to monitor air and water quality in order to ensure that their quality meet the regulatory standards.

Air and water quality monitoring requires a vast monitoring network.Generally, the conventional air and water quality monitoring programme needs a chain of laboratories along with trends and historical data. Such systems are cost prohibitive and man power intensive. With rapid development of instrumental analytical tools, various attempts are made to develop handy and low cost kits that can minimize the cost and man power.

Therefore, keeping the above in mind, this programme’s objective is to explore and discuss environmental monitoring (air and water) technologies and practices that are SMART as well as affordable. Majority of the developing nations in South Asia and Africa, where CSE works, needs to strengthen their regulatory infrastructure and capacity towards better environmental monitoring (air quality, air emissions, water quality and wastewater etc.). 

Very high-end and costly technology options are not feasible for them at this stage, and therefore SMART and affordable solutions are needed. At the same time, laboratory infrastructure and skilled practitioners are equally important to ensure correct testing of the air and water quality as well as, having equipment(s) that are calibrated as well as certified.

Various aspects related to SMART & Affordable monitoring, possible solutions, best practices and the way forward will be discussed during the workshop. The learning from the workshop will be used to address the existing gaps in policies and practices in various south-Asian and African countries. This initiative will play a significant role in helping all the participating countries to ensure better compliance and in strengthening their environmental governance.

We invite individuals who would like to present/share a paper/ case study/studies that is/are in line with the aforementioned context to kindly send in their entries by 26 January 2018. In case of any queries/questions, please write to
Mr Digvijay Singh Bisht at digvijay@cseindia.org.