Stars and STEM Stories
GLOBE Asia and Pacific Region Hosts Inspiring Webinar in Support of November 2021 – January 2022 Air Quality Campaign
On 05 November, GLOBE’s Asia and Pacific Region hosted an “impactful” Air Quality Campaign Webinar, which was attended by 35 people from seven countries. The Asia and Pacific Regional Coordination Office is promoting the Air Quality Campaign, which will frun from November 2021 through January 2022.
“Air pollution in the Asia Pacific Region is not only a major health risk, it also has damaging impacts on the environment,” said Dr. Desh Bandhu (Coordinator, Asia and Pacific Regional Coordination Office).
“We want to increase awareness, as well as the understanding of the students about air pollution. We want to collect data that is otherwise not available. It is not possible to deploy an air monitoring station on every street of a country. So, the data which we are going to collect is very unique and, very often, never been collected before,” Dr. Bandhu said. “We want to see whether participating into this campaign can have an impact on the mode of transportation that the student or community member use or would like to use.”
“The GLOBE Air Quality Campaign is a citizen science project that will measure the protocol related to GLOBE air quality bundle. This is an educational project designed to raise awareness about air pollution and showcase the potential of citizen science to gather unique datasets and insights into our environment. The campaign also provides a collaborative platform for schools to share their research and insights.”
Dr. Bandhu said that the campaign is important in that it is designed to:
- build public awareness by increasing support for city and national action to reduce air pollution and short-lived climate pollutants to meet health and development priorities, and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals;
- empower individuals by educating people about the burden air pollution poses to health and climate, and to provide meaningful ways to take action both locally and global;
- increase monitoring and data collecting by working with municipalities to expand monitoring efforts that can keep citizens informed and facilitate more sustainable urban development; and
- connect cities by providing a platform for cities to share best practices and demonstrate progress in their journey to meeting World Health Organization air quality targets.
“The webinar, and campaign, participants will have a better understanding of GLOBE atmosphere and land cover protocol, and of air pollution. Participants will learn how to use science, data, and online tools in the development of student research projects.”
“Students participating in the campaign can collaborate with other GLOBE schools from around the world to strengthen their research experience and share ideas. They also will present their measurements and research at a future campaign webinar in the Asia and Pacific region, as well as submit their research to the GLOBE International Virtual Science Symposium (IVSS),” Dr. Bandhu said.
Star Story submitted by GLOBE Country Coordinator, Dr. Desh Bandhu, Coordinator, Regional Coordination Office.