![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Related Links
Selected U.S. EPA Web Sites and Publications on Health and Environmental Benefits
U.S. EPA Air Programs
Air pollution comes from many different sources, such as factories, power plants, dry cleaners, cars, buses, trucks, and even windblown dust and wildfires. Air pollution can threaten the health of human beings, trees, lakes, crops, and animals, as well as damage the ozone layer and buildings. Air pollution also can cause haze, reducing visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. The U.S. EPA protects human health and the environment through voluntary programs and regulatory processes. This Web site is EPA's entry point to programs dealing with air quality.
Evaluating the Health Benefits of Air Pollution Reductions: Recent Developments at the U.S. EPA (PDF) (17 pp, 124K) (2002)
This report describes recent developments in analysis of expected health benefits from reductions in air pollution in the United States.
Health Benefits of Reducing Particulate Air Pollution from Heavy Duty Vehicles (PDF) (39 pp, 220K) (2002)
This report details the estimated health benefits of reductions in ambient particulate matter concentrations associated with EPA regulations to reduce air pollution from heavy duty vehicles.
The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act
This Web site contains reports detailing the economic values of the public health and environmental benefits that Americans enjoy from the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990. The reports project that the CAAA and their associated programs will prevent thousands of premature deaths related to air pollution, as well as a wide range of additional human health and ecological effects.
Gateway to International Best Practices and Innovation: Air/Climate Change
This Web site focuses on ways to improve air quality and curb climate change through innovative policies and programs. These include international, national, and local initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality and increase energy efficiency, and use transportation effectively to alleviate air pollution.
U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
This Web site covers the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for pollutants considered harmful to public health and the environment. When the Clean Air Act established the NAAQS, it set two types of standard — primary and secondary. Primary standards set limits to protect public health, including the health of "sensitive" populations such as asthmatics, children, and the elderly. Secondary standards set limits to protect public welfare, including protection against decreased visibility, damage to animals, crops, vegetation, and buildings.
Air Quality Management Online Portal
Air pollution is a comprehensive problem that requires comprehensive solutions. This EPA Web site aims to offer understanding of the interconnected components involved in air quality management to industry, governments, and the public. This Web site describes those components and provides links to a wealth of information, tools, and resources on other EPA and non-EPA Web sites.
U.S. EPA's Global Warming Site
This site contains links to information on climate science, emissions, impacts, and more. It also provides information on actions government, corporations, and individuals can take to address global warming issues.
Note: All the links below leave the EPA web site.
Partner Web Sites
Desert Research Institute (DRI)
DRI is the nonprofit research campus of the Nevada System of Higher Education. DRI provides key technical assistance for the IES-India program.
Environment Protection Research and Training Institute (EPTRI)
EPTRI, located in India, provides training, consultancy, applied research services, and advocacy in the area of environmental protection to industries, regulatory bodies, government organizations, and NGOs. It is the lead partner for the in-country IES-India work.
Korea Environment Institute (KEI)
KEI, a government-funded research institution founded in 1991 by the South Korean government, seeks to research and develop environmental policies and technology, professionally assess environmental impact statements, and contribute to the prevention and resolution of environmental problems. This institute is the lead in-country partner for the IES-South Korea effort.
- Integrated Environmental Strategies-South Korea
This is a Web site (in Korean) describing the IES-South Korea program.
Manila Observatory (MO)
MO is the lead in-country partner for the IES-Philippines work. Its research areas include urban air quality, regional climate systems, socio-environmental geomatics, solid earth dynamics, and iono-geomagnetic studies. By using its scientific expertise, the Observatory is able to conduct air quality monitoring and modeling, emissions inventories, renewable energy resource assessments (e.g., wind, solar, water), disaster vulnerability evaluations, high resolution population mapping, land-use mapping and classification, training, and project development and management.
- KLIMA Climate Change Center
KLIMA, an arm of the Manila Observatory in the Philippines, provides the fastest-growing region in the world, East Asia, with information and resources on climate science and impacts, adaptation, mitigation, and climate policy. It aims to raise public awareness, conduct relevant research, serve as a clearinghouse of climate-critical information, and train people and institutions through activities that stimulate hands-on learning on climate change issues.
National Institute of Ecology of Mexico (INE)
INE is a decentralized body of the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources created in June 2001 to promote and coordinate research on environmental issues in order to provide data, ideas, proposals, and technical input for decision-making to support environmental and natural resources management. It is the lead in-country partner for the IES-Mexico program.
- Integrated Environmental Strategies-Mexico
This is a Web page (in Spanish) describing the IES-Mexico program.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
From the inception of the IES program in 1998, NREL has provided technical and project support for IES program implementation to EPA. In addition, NREL provides direct technical support to the in-country partners through contracting, training, and consulting assistance. NREL has special expertise in the area of renewables and energy efficiency research and development.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Climate Change Program
USAID has funded environmental programs that have reduced growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while promoting energy efficiency, forest conservation, biodiversity, and other development goals for the past decade. USAID provided funds for the IES programs in the Philippines and India.
Co-Benefits Web Sites
Center for International Climate and Environmental Research-Oslo (CICERO)
CICERO, founded by the Norwegian government in 1990, is an independent research center associated with the University of Oslo. CICERO's mandate is to conduct research and provide information about climate change.
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), established by the Japanese government in 1998, is a research institute that conducts strategic policy research to support sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region. Its mission is to promote the sustainable transformation of society.
- IGES EnviroScope: Online Platform on Environmental Strategy, Policy and Research
EnviroScope serves as a clearinghouse for detailed information on current environmental and sustainability issues and policy measures of countries and regions.
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
IIASA is a nongovernmental research organization located in Austria that conducts inter-disciplinary scientific studies on environmental, economic, technological, and social issues in the context of human dimensions of global change. The research areas covered link a variety of natural and social science disciplines.
- Greenhouse Gas Initiative (GGI)
GGI is an IIASA research project that addresses questions critical to understanding and responding to the challenges of climate change. It is a joint initiative, with activities reaching across seven IIASA programs.
- Transboundary Air Pollution (TAP)
The prioritization of action in different economic sectors and countries to control air pollution problems with different spatial and temporal scales will be a key task for the ”next generation” of air quality management. IIASA's TAP program develops and promotes integrated assessment tools.
World Bank Group (WB)
Protecting the environment is one of six main principles in the World Bank's mission to alleviate poverty and to sustain the quality of development. WB’s strategy focuses on improving the quality of life, improving the quality of growth, and protecting the quality of the regional and global commons, such as climate change, forests, water resources, and biodiversity.
- Simple Interactive Model (SIM) for Air Quality Management
This Web site contains a prototype of the SIM-air analytical tool, developed by the World Bank for air quality management for cities with limited information and institutional capacity. The tool provides an interactive and integrated framework to analyze emissions data from various sectors, conduct dispersion modeling (through source receptor matrices), evaluate health impacts based on population distribution, and perform economic analysis. A key element of this approach is the use of interactive and visual tools to illustrate the environmental and economic implications of various types of policy, economic, institutional, and technical management options.
Related Web Sites
AirImpacts.org
This Web site aims to increase global awareness of the environmental, health, and economic impacts of air pollution, including climate change. Focusing on both developing and developed countries, it facilitates collaboration and information exchange between experts and institutions involved in research and policy programs.
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
ADB promotes sustainable development and environmental protection. ADB reviews the environmental impacts of its projects, programs, and policies; encourages Developing Member Countries’ governments and executing agencies to incorporate environmental protection measures in their project design and implementation procedures; provides technical assistance; promotes programs that will protect, rehabilitate, and enhance the environment and the quality of life; and trains staff in environmental aspects of economic development.
Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)
CCAP was established to develop and promote innovative policy solutions to energy and environmental problems, and actively engaged in analyzing and advancing market-based policies in all sectors of the economy.
Community for Energy, Environment, and Development (COMMEND)
COMMEND is an international initiative designed to foster community among energy analysts working on energy for sustainable development. COMMEND is managed by the U.S. center of the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), and provides technical support and training for SEI’s Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning system (LEAP). Many IES partner countries use the LEAP model in their IES analyses.
Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities
The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) promotes and demonstrates innovative ways to improve the air quality of Asian cities through partnerships and sharing experiences. CAI-Asia is a network of over 120 organizations in Asia and abroad dedicated to sharing information and identifying project opportunities.
Clean Air Initiative for Latin American Cities
The Clean Air Initiative in Latin American Cities (CAI-LAC) focuses on reversing the deterioration of urban air quality in the cities of the region that results from rapid urbanization, increased vehicular transport, and industrial production.
EarthPrint
EarthPrint was launched in 1999 as the official online bookshop of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Global Environment Facility (GEF)
GEF, established in 1991, helps developing countries fund projects and programs that protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.
The Health Effects Institute (HEI)
HEI is an independent, nonprofit corporation chartered in 1980 and funded jointly by government and industry to provide high-quality, impartial, and relevant science on the health effects of air pollution.
- Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA)
PAPA is a program of the CAI-Asia Initiative, implemented through HEI, that has produced a synthesis of all of the existing health studies in Asia. PAPA is conducting new studies of air pollution and health in Asian cities. This information can inform public and private decisions on ambient air quality standards, air quality monitoring, and enhanced control programs.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1988 to assess scientific, technical, and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
ICLEI's mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global sustainability, with special focus on environmental conditions through cumulative local actions.
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
RIVM has expertise in the fields of health, nutrition, and environmental protection. The organization mainly does work for the Dutch government, but it also shares its knowledge with governments and supranational bodies around the world.
Resources for the Future (RFF)
RFF is an independent research institute dedicated exclusively to analyzing environmental, energy, and natural resource topics. RFF aims to provide impartial research for the development and implementation of sound policy.
- IGES-RFF Conference: Climate Policy in the U.S. and Japan: Prospects in 2005 and Beyond
Resources for the Future and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies convened a one and one-half day workshop on domestic and international climate policy on May 11-12, 2005, in Tokyo, Japan. The participants discussed domestic climate activities, economics, politics, and opportunities for future international climate regimes.
Sustainable Transport Sourcebook for Policy Makers in Developing Cities
The Sustainable Transport Sourcebook for Policy Makers in Developing Cities is a “toolkit” for transport policymakers. It contains numerous modules covering the key topics that go into a comprehensive transport policy for a city.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
UNDP helps countries strengthen their capacity to address sustainable development, poverty, and environmental issues at the community, national, and global levels, seeking out and sharing best practices, providing innovative policy advice, and linking partners through pilot projects that help poor people build sustainable livelihoods.
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
UNFCCC sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change. Under the Convention, governments gather and share information on GHG emissions, national policies, and best practices; launch national strategies for addressing GHG emissions and adapting to expected impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries; and cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO is the United Nations’ specialized agency for health. Its objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.
World Resources Institute (WRI)
WRI is an environmental research and policy organization that creates market-based solutions to achieve its goals of protecting the Earth’s living systems, increasing access to information about the environment, creating sustainable enterprise and opportunity, and reversing global warming.