Kuwait environment protection authority keen on air quality projects

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) is keen on air quality programs and initiatives through the Air Quality Monitoring Department and efforts are ongoing to help counter the pollution caused by human activity in Kuwait, Head of Department Ayman BuJbarah said, Thursday. The official told KUNA air quality and air pollution are related to gas emissions, whether from mobile or stationary sources, and the EPA's efforts aim to support development projects that would curb emissions and counter the aftermath for the local population from a scientific perspective with legal backbone. Recent and ongoing increase in levels of emissions from cars and automobiles of all types across Kuwait is most alarming, he said, and this issue is a priority at the EPA, especially in view of the grave effect it has on public health. The EPA is also cooperating with other state bodies to come up with a legal framework to enable monitoring of air quality and causes of alarm and subsequent action to remedy the situation. With the support of the Supreme Council of Planning and Development, the EPA cooperated with the UN Development Program (UNDP) to draft the "Comprehensive Environmental Management to Improve Air Quality - 2014" project, BuJbarah added. The project includes studies to guide legal amendment to articles relating to automobiles used in transport of people or goods which rely on fossil fuel or cause air pollution in any way in residential areas. There is a great need to re-examine and update both criteria and equipment and technical assessment mechanisms used to gauge an activity's relation to pollution or its contribution in overall gas emissions, he remarked, and this needs cooperation among many state bodies and specialized institutions. A team assigned especially to the task of updating criteria is currently putting its findings and recommendations in the proper format to present them and publish them in the official gazette, he pointed out, so that they may take effect