site.btaAir Pollution Cases Drop by 60% in Eight Years
NW 16:04:01 13-05-2019
LN1602NW.115
115 ENVIRONMENT - SOFAIR - CONFERENCE - AIR
Air Pollution Cases
Drop by 60%
in Eight Years
Sofia, April 12 (BTA) - The exceedances of air pollution limits registered by monitoring stations dropped by close to 60 per cent between 2011 and 2018, Environment and Water Minister Neno Dimov said on Friday at the opening of the SOFAIR European Air Quality Conference, organized by Sofia Municipality and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The forum was attended by mayors and deputy mayors of international cities including Thessaloniki, Schiedam, Tirana, Katowice, Cologne and Porto.
Dimov recalled that the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled against Bulgaria over high levels of air pollution in 28 cities in 2017. According to preliminary data as of 2019, nine of those cities already meet the standards and are no longer subject to the infringement procedure, and six of them have sustainably achieved the objective. There are still 25 per cent of monitoring stations across the country that report high air pollution levels, the Minister said, adding that this must be remedied over the next few years.
Dimov noted that economic development and poverty are directly linked to air quality, which is why the Cabinet's priority to increase income levels is in turn also connected with environmental protection.
Addressing the participants in the conference, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova said that cities could be the driving force behind large-scale solutions on the national level, because cities are the first to see what works and what does not, what is accepted by the people and what they are willing to participate in.
Fandakova said the big problem of the Bulgarian capital is the high content of fine particulate matter in the air on most winter days, although statistical data show a steady decrease since 2009. Back in 2009, the safety limit for fine particulate matter was exceeded on 161 days of the year, and in 2016 this occurred on 71 days. The drop continued into the early months of 2019.
One-third of Sofia's 55,000 households using firewood or coal for heating will have their heating systems replaced with environmentally friendly ones in the next three years, Fandakova said.
She noted that it is up to the local authorities to attract more people to this cause. "I believe that people participate when they see that we, the local authorities and institutions, are doing our job," she said, adding that Friday's conference provided an occasion to exchange experience and create a favourable climate for finding effective solutions.
Harald Rau, Deputy Mayor of the German city of Cologne, and Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki in Greece, said that the problems associated with the use of solid fuel for household heating and the pollution caused by the transport system are among the greatest challenges facing their respective communities.
Cor Lamers, Mayor of the Dutch city of Schiedam, who has contributed to the elaboration of EU air quality requirements, said that the city is developing a system of sensors to measure air quality. Each household can join the system by having a sensor installed in front of its home.
The Albanian capital Tirana is focused on expanding its green spaces and bicycle lanes, Deputy Mayor Andi Seferi said. The Portuguese city of Porto is set on promoting the use of electric vehicles, according to Deputy Mayor Filipe Araujo.
Paris has a new programme for subsidizing the purchase of electric bicycles. Municipal Councillor Aurelie Solans said the French capital has almost halved its particulate matter pollution level in 10 years. The effort has involved many unpopular measures, including banning vehicles made before 2005 from travelling in the city centre. IG/LY/MY/VE
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LN1602NW.115
115 ENVIRONMENT - SOFAIR - CONFERENCE - AIR
Air Pollution Cases
Drop by 60%
in Eight Years
Sofia, April 12 (BTA) - The exceedances of air pollution limits registered by monitoring stations dropped by close to 60 per cent between 2011 and 2018, Environment and Water Minister Neno Dimov said on Friday at the opening of the SOFAIR European Air Quality Conference, organized by Sofia Municipality and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).
The forum was attended by mayors and deputy mayors of international cities including Thessaloniki, Schiedam, Tirana, Katowice, Cologne and Porto.
Dimov recalled that the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled against Bulgaria over high levels of air pollution in 28 cities in 2017. According to preliminary data as of 2019, nine of those cities already meet the standards and are no longer subject to the infringement procedure, and six of them have sustainably achieved the objective. There are still 25 per cent of monitoring stations across the country that report high air pollution levels, the Minister said, adding that this must be remedied over the next few years.
Dimov noted that economic development and poverty are directly linked to air quality, which is why the Cabinet's priority to increase income levels is in turn also connected with environmental protection.
Addressing the participants in the conference, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova said that cities could be the driving force behind large-scale solutions on the national level, because cities are the first to see what works and what does not, what is accepted by the people and what they are willing to participate in.
Fandakova said the big problem of the Bulgarian capital is the high content of fine particulate matter in the air on most winter days, although statistical data show a steady decrease since 2009. Back in 2009, the safety limit for fine particulate matter was exceeded on 161 days of the year, and in 2016 this occurred on 71 days. The drop continued into the early months of 2019.
One-third of Sofia's 55,000 households using firewood or coal for heating will have their heating systems replaced with environmentally friendly ones in the next three years, Fandakova said.
She noted that it is up to the local authorities to attract more people to this cause. "I believe that people participate when they see that we, the local authorities and institutions, are doing our job," she said, adding that Friday's conference provided an occasion to exchange experience and create a favourable climate for finding effective solutions.
Harald Rau, Deputy Mayor of the German city of Cologne, and Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki in Greece, said that the problems associated with the use of solid fuel for household heating and the pollution caused by the transport system are among the greatest challenges facing their respective communities.
Cor Lamers, Mayor of the Dutch city of Schiedam, who has contributed to the elaboration of EU air quality requirements, said that the city is developing a system of sensors to measure air quality. Each household can join the system by having a sensor installed in front of its home.
The Albanian capital Tirana is focused on expanding its green spaces and bicycle lanes, Deputy Mayor Andi Seferi said. The Portuguese city of Porto is set on promoting the use of electric vehicles, according to Deputy Mayor Filipe Araujo.
Paris has a new programme for subsidizing the purchase of electric bicycles. Municipal Councillor Aurelie Solans said the French capital has almost halved its particulate matter pollution level in 10 years. The effort has involved many unpopular measures, including banning vehicles made before 2005 from travelling in the city centre. IG/LY/MY/VE
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