Understanding the current air quality situation in Lebanon is a complex task given the limited data, often discontinued in time and in space. Air quality monitoring in Lebanon has been relying so far on individual initiatives mostly conducted by research groups and universities in Lebanon, driven by scientists’ research agenda rather than by a control and mitigation vision of the central environmental authority. This hurdled up until now the possibility to draw conclusions about the status of air quality throughout the country and consequently to develop appropriate policy options to improve ambient air quality.
The recently approved draft law on Air Quality Protection (Clean Air Act) is a major development at the level of environmental monitoring and management, where a draft law encompassing 34 articles aims at protecting the ambient air quality. The law foresees efforts to primarily understand, monitor, and assess the places and causes of ambient air pollution which involves the establishment of a national program and network for ambient air quality monitoring, maintaining a national emissions inventory, and reporting on the ambient air quality.
In line with the strategy and vision of the MoE, the overall objective for this third component of the ERML project is to improve understanding and management of the air quality situation in Lebanon (particularly major cities) and to develop strategies for the reduction of key pollutants from emissions. This objective is met through: