2001 Worldwide Action on Long-range Transport of Air Pollution
1995 Arctic Air Pollution
1992 Pollution Prevention
1989 Climate Change

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Resolution on Worldwide Action on Long-range Transport of Air Pollution
Approved at the 12th World Clean Air and Environment Congress,
Seoul, Korea, 26-31 August 2001

The IUAPPA

Recognising that

Air pollution continues to impose significant damage to the environment, public health and materials, resulting in considerable human, social and economic loss to individuals and society worldwide;

Damage associated with air pollution undermines prospects for sustainable development;

Emission reductions achieved in one part of the world may be partly offset by increases elsewhere;

Air pollution, travelling globally across national borders, must therefore be addressed in an integrated way at local, regional and global level;

Action on acidification, eutrophication, and tropospheric ozone formation has important inter-linkages with other global issues, such as programmes on climate change and persistent organic pollutants;

Noting that

Science is now in place to address air pollution on a global level;

Regional co-operation within the framework of the 1979 UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution has been successful in curbing emission of air pollutants in Europe and North America;

Further intergovernmental co-operation in worldwide integrated assessment of air pollution and abatement options, which recognises the need for cost-effective solutions and international burden-sharing, could yield significant benefits to all parties;

And that the uneven distribution of resources and capabilities in the world impairs the prospects for quick progress on emission inventories, effect studies, technology applications and associated policy development;

Calls upon

All Member States to give the issue high priority and, in particular, to support the further development of international co-operation on regional scientific and political mechanisms;

Invites

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), drawing on its global experience, to establish, with the assistance of other relevant bodies, an effective international co-ordinating framework to promote relevant science and technology, encourage regional collaboration on transboundary air pollution and to elaborate necessary burden-sharing mechanisms, including integrated assessment modelling;

Resolves, in the meantime, to

Promote co-operation among relevant governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in support of establishing such a body;

Develop a programme for public and political awareness-raising, aiming at facilitating worldwide policy action to reduce emission of air pollutants and their resulting negative impact on the environment and human health; and

Assist in promotion, co-ordination and capacity-building for the development of a more effective global framework to address air pollution.

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The International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations - a non-governmental, non-political organisation, consisting of professional or voluntary associations worldwide concerned with the maintenance of clean air, assembling at the 10th World Clean Air Congress at Espoo, on 28 May 1995, respectfully submits to the United Nations and all governments of the world for earnest consideration the following science-based declaration:

The International Union:

Noting the several global environmental threats relating to air pollution as identified at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio 1992 in the context of economic development and hence, in particular, the requirement to improve the scientific basis for decision making by addressing the uncertainties; the promotion of sustainable development inter alia by controlling emissions to the atmosphere of greenhouse and other gases, and the prevention of both stratospheric ozone depletion and transboundary atmospheric pollution;

Also noting that neither the Rio Conference 1992 nor the Conference in Berlin 1995 achieved a clear and unambiguous commitment to the goal of stabilising emissions of carbon dioxide in the developed countries at their 1990 levels, let alone reducing them;

Noting that the sensitivity of the ecosystems in the harsh conditions of the Arctic to adverse atmospheric properties is much greater than in most other parts of the world, so that the impact of pollution is much greater there;

Furthermore noting that the Arctic sustains a considerable population and many valuable ecosystems with an importance for a region much larger than the Arctic;

Taking into account the following facts and expectations:

- Relative to the vulnerability of the Arctic ecosystems high concentrations of air pollutants and contaminants have been recorded. In particular during the winter large-scale advection of polluted air masses from Eurasian and North American continents give rise in the most remote areas to increased concentrations of sulphur dioxide, sulphate aerosol, and a number of other pollutants.

- Several of these pollutants have direct effects on the vulnerable ecosystems. Some pollutants exert indirect effects by entering the Arctic food chain, thus threatening individual organisms and populations of organisms, and at the end of the food chain the indigenous population, relying on this food.

- Because of the small buffering capacity of the thin soil layers the Arctic regions of Fennoscandia and Northern Russia are especially vulnerable to acidification due to long-range transport of pollutants.

- Additionally emissions of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals from large point sources cause severe environmental impacts locally in some regions, accentuated by the contributions from long-range transport.

- Studies of tropospheric ozone and precursors, such as hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, demonstrate the importance of the Arctic region in the ozone formation on a hemispheric scale.

- Stratospheric ozone depletion has been observed to be enhanced in the Arctic spring, as has been observed in the Antarctic spring earlier.

- Both the increase of tropospheric ozone and the depletion of stratospheric ozone affect the radiation balance of the earth.

Along with the ever increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases these developments are expected to give rise to a substantial climate change on a global scale towards the year 2050, assuming unchanged policy. Especially during the winter a dramatic increase of ground temperature of up to 6-8 degrees C is anticipated. Also an increase of precipitation in the Arctic is projected.

As a consequence of such climate change the ice pack is predicted to decrease, which in turn will affect terrestrial and aquatic productivity and change the permafrost regime thus causing the threat of a vast increase of methane emissions. In the event such changes would cause an extreme disruption of the Arctic ecosystem structure, and would have a detrimental impact globally.

In the light of the foregoing, the International Union:

strongly supports the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, adopted by Ministers of the Environment of the eight Arctic countries in Rovaniemi, Finland, on 14 June 1991 and again in Nuuk, Greenland on 16 September 1993, including: cooperation in scientific research to specify sources, pathways, sinks and effects of pollution; assessment of potential environmental impacts of development activities; full implementation and consideration of further measures to control pollutants with adverse effects to the Arctic environment by pursuing these issues together in international environmental fora, the establishment of an Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme to monitor the levels of, and assess the effects of anthropogenic pollutants in all components of the Arctic environment;

notes that the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy finds implicit support in Chapter 9 of Agenda 21 in the Programme Areas mentioned above, to which governments in the world are committed;

urges the governments in the world, especially those from whose territory emissions of pollutants have an impact on the Arctic region, in the light of the elapsing time on the one hand and the severe nature of the problems concerned, to speed up their programmes aimed at the promotion of sustainable development; and

furthermore requests from those governments that they shall not argue the lack of full scientific certainty as a reason for postponing the necessary actions to meet the pending threats but, to the contrary, give wide application to the Precautionary Principle as defined in article 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in accordance with their presently agreed commitments;

and requests the leaders of the industrialised world to address the problem of Arctic pollution explicitly in the agenda for the forthcoming International Environment Conference in Tokyo 1997.

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The International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations - a non-governmental, non-political organisation, consisting of professional and voluntary associations worldwide, whose national governments are assembling at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development [in 1992],

Respectfully submits to the United Nations and to all the governments of the world, for earnest consideration, the following declaration:

The Union

- Considering the full scope of the observations and recommendations for “sustainable development” contained in the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development report, titled Our Common Future, to the United Nations General Assembly, including those focusing on the rate of human population growth in the world,

- Considering further the need for economic growth and agricultural production to feed this population, inevitably leading to more pollution,

- Cognisant of the great strides in environmental protection made over the last twenty years,

- Concerned that technology is reaching the limits of traditional methods of pollution treatment and control,

- Sensitive to the dilemma that the significant resources spent on pollution control are not available for improving productivity or implementing alternative pollution control measures,

- Recognising that pollution control systems may result in pollutants being transferred from one medium to another,

- Concerned with the risks and potential social and environmental costs inherent in any release of pollutants into the environment,

- Aware that the public desires an environment where risks are minimised,

- Determined to promote the enhancement and maintenance of environmental quality, not only locally, but worldwide,

Submits, for the purpose of this Declaration, that:

Pollution Prevention

- Consitutes a cornerstone of sustainable development,

- Reduces the risk inherent in the management of some waste streams and residues that result from traditional control methods, including the risk of technology failure,

- Avoids the inadvertent transfer of pollutants across media that may occur with some end-of-the-pipe media-specific treatment and control approaches,

- Addresses certain environmental problems of extraordinary urgency, such as the perturbation of the earth’s radiation balance with consequences for global climate changes,

- Applies to a broad array of activities that lead to pollution, including energy use, agriculture, transportation, as well as industrial activity,

- Protects natural resources for future generations, by avoiding excessive levels of wastes and residues, minimising the depletion of resources, and maintaining the capacity of the environment to absorb pollutants,

- Provides a cost-effective method of environmental protection that can reduce raw material and energy losses, reduce the need for expensive “end-of-pipe” treatment technologies, encourage improvements in process efficiency and performance, and reduce long-term liability,

- Reduces the use of hazardous and toxic substances in manufacturing and other processes,
Is feasible, practicable and available,

Defines for the purpose of this declaration, the following concepts:

- Life-cycle “cradle to grave” management includes raw materials extraction and use, energy conversion, impacts, transportation, worker safety, waste management, treatment and disposal, and potential liabilities, releases into the environment, as well as product use and ultimate disposal,

- Support for better design of industrial processes includes research and development, technology transfer, economic incentives, and technical assistance,

- The sectors of the economy include production, energy (efficiency), product design, and renewable fuels,

- International ventures includes the promotion and dissemination by industrialised nations of low-polluting and low-waste technology in developing countries,

- Public education includes providing information on consumer products and the consequences of business and industrial activity in their communities,

Concludes that

- Continued progress in environmental protection will require application of both innovative and traditional approaches for pollution control,

- Pollution prevention is the best possible solution for environmental protection on both environmental and economic grounds, being potentially the most effective method for reducing risks to human health and the environment for containing costs,

Calls on all governments to:

- Orient their existing environmental programmes to emphasise pollution prevention,

- Develop and use compatible analytical methods to assess the costs and environmental impacts of the entire life cycle management of products,

- Support the development and dissemination of better designs for industrial processes, inter-alia, to reduce the use of energy and scarce raw materials, and toxic pollutants, and the release of pollutants,

- Lead in the adoption of pollution prevention techniques through government procurement practices the design and operation of government facilities, and the development of a mix of economic and regulatory incentives,

- Allow the maximum opportunity for flexibility and innovation in the design of pollution prevention approaches by industry and all other sectors of the economy,

- Support cooperative international ventures,

- Involve the public, as citizens and as consumers, in pollution prevention through education,

- Promote the use of pollution prevention impact statements, and

- Establish through an international forum, an appropriate demonstration of pollution prevention.

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CLIMATE CHANGE DECLARATION
Approved by delegates attending the 8th World Clean Air Congress at
The Hague, September 1989

The International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations - a non‑governmental, non‑political organisation, consisting of professional or voluntary associations worldwide concerned with the maintenance of clean air, assembling at the 8th World Clean Air Congress at The Hague, The Netherlands, on 15 September 1989, respectfully submits to the United Nations, and to all governments of the world, for earnest consideration, the following science‑based declaration:

The International Union:

Noting the problems of the deterioration of the globe’s biosphere, possibly leading to a perturbation of the radiation balance;

Noting the various projections made for future energy demands and population growth and their likely effects, in particular:

‑ the increased emission of carbon dioxide, due to fossil fuel combustion;

‑ the man‑induced perturbation of the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the biosphere;

‑ the production and use of CFCs and of halons;

‑ the increased emission of methane and nitrous oxide as a consequence of food production;

leading to the accumulation in the troposphere of carbon dioxide, CFCs, halons, nitrous oxide, methane and carbon monoxide, as a result of the considerable residence time in the atmosphere of many of these substances;

and

Concerned at the potentially serious implications of the accumulation of these substances including:

‑ the depletion of the ozone shield in the stratosphere due to CFC/halon‑induced catalytic reactions, leading to an increase of ultraviolet solar radiation at the earth’s surface; and

‑ the possible further increase of the ozone concentration in the free troposphere;

‑ the possible atmospheric warming (the greenhouse effect) resulting from increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide, ozone, CFCs, halons, methane and nitrous oxide in the troposphere;

Emphasising that the current projections of atmospheric warming due to a doubling of carbon dioxide (including other greenhouse gases) which may occur in the next century if development is not restrained, may be in the range of 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius according to the best available climate models, are, nevertheless, based on imperfect characterisations of many important physical processes in the global models, so that also the results are subject to a high degree of uncertainty;

Recognising the need for a political precautionary approach now, to prevent the serious disruption which a significant climate change might have; in particular encouraging policies which would benefit both society and the environment, irrespective of climatic considerations, including:

‑ prohibition of the production and use of CFCs, especially the compounds CF‑11, CF‑12, CF‑113 and CF‑114, and of halons in the shortest possible time;

‑ safe disposal programmes for CFCs;

‑ development and promotion of programmes for the conservation of fossil fuels, including measures to maximise the efficiency of their use;

‑ the halting of further deforestation and encouragement of appropriate afforestation programmes through other technical, financial and educational assistance to developing countries;

‑ programmes to develop energy sources which do not create greenhouse gases;

‑ prudent use of global resources;

Acknowledging the political recognition of these environmental problems as evidenced by the many international agreements on measures to combat air pollution

Calls on all governments, as a matter of utmost urgency, to cooperate in investigative programmes. In particular, attention is asked for:

‑ Identification of the causes, effects and trends of climatic change, both natural and man‑induced;

‑ Quantification of global and regional budgets of important atmospheric gases, their cycles and interactions;

‑ Identification and quantification of feed‑back mechanisms;

‑ Improvement of global models to better anticipate the consequences of global warming in order to develop effective intervention strategies;

‑ Development of energy efficiency measures and energy conservation programmes;

‑ Development of non‑fossil fuel energy sources;

‑ Development of carbon dioxide and methane emission control technology.