Hybrid·December 12, 2024 – December 12, 2024·Bangkok, Thailand
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and
National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) and Korea International Cooperation
Agency (KOICA), Republic of Korea, have jointly implemented the project, “Building the Pan-
Asia Partnership for Geospatial Air Pollution information (PAPGAPi)” since mid- 2020
focusing on the utilization of the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer
(GEMS), launched by the Republic of Korea in February 2020, and the installation of Pandora
device supporting GEMS data validation and in-situ air quality monitoring. Asia and the
Pacific region is increasingly recognized as the major home to the global health impacts of air
pollution, resulting in about 7 million premature deaths annually. Effective air quality
management requires tackling driving forces of excessive air pollution emissions in every
economic sector. A key to the effective management is to measure emissions, impacts and
sources of air pollution for devising more effective and efficient solutions. However, most
countries lack not only data and information from in-situ measurements using ground-based
air quality monitoring networks, facing heavy geographic imbalance across their territories,
but also technical capacities for measuring impacts of air pollution crossing administrative
and political borders, which can be mainly addressed by satellite-derived data.
In this regard, the project had been prepared to:
• fill the data and information gap in the nation-wide monitoring of air quality
• install/operate Pandora instrument within the Pandora Asia Network
• integrate and validate GEMS data production with reliable ground monitoring
information for better understanding of air pollution, and improve model simulations
of air quality, including its forecasting and warning service
• enhance their capacity to undertake the comprehensive analysis of data derived from
space and ground networks; and
• promote policy dialogue on partnership and enhance the capacity for monitoring and
management of air pollution at the regional level and global level.
The project implementation faced an unexpected challenge, the outbreak of COVID-19
Pandemic resulting in notable changes in planned work and timeline, and different levels of
technical capacity and administrative requirement in the target countries. Despite various
impediments, the project has installed 17 Pandora instruments across 7 countries, enhanced
national capacity of utilizing advanced monitoring tools, GEMS and Pandora, through a series
of regional and national trainings, and established a community of institutions and experts,
Pandora Asia Network (PAN).
There remain still various technical challenges in the full utilization of the GEMS and Pandora
data. To tackle the challenges, during the 3rd PAN workshop held in November 2024, national
presentations proposed the continuation of training programmes including on data validation
and utilization and in-depth data analysis, the development of advanced algorithms for
combining PANDORA and GEMS data, the development policy briefs and analytical papers,
etc. In this regard, the Project Wrap-Up Meeting will be held to review key outcomes of the
project, lessons learned and potential follow-up activities.
Purpose and Objectives
• Review key outcomes of the PAPGAPi project in the regional and national contexts
and discuss lessons learned
• Review of GEMS data utilization in academic community and discuss strategies for
utilizing GEMS and other remote sensing data for science-based air quality
management
• Present follow-up actions of ESCAP and NIER on the operation of PAPGAPi and
PAN, respectively, and the plan of national project partners
Expected Participants
• Representatives of national project partners, and experts
National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) and Korea International Cooperation
Agency (KOICA), Republic of Korea, have jointly implemented the project, “Building the Pan-
Asia Partnership for Geospatial Air Pollution information (PAPGAPi)” since mid- 2020
focusing on the utilization of the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer
(GEMS), launched by the Republic of Korea in February 2020, and the installation of Pandora
device supporting GEMS data validation and in-situ air quality monitoring. Asia and the
Pacific region is increasingly recognized as the major home to the global health impacts of air
pollution, resulting in about 7 million premature deaths annually. Effective air quality
management requires tackling driving forces of excessive air pollution emissions in every
economic sector. A key to the effective management is to measure emissions, impacts and
sources of air pollution for devising more effective and efficient solutions. However, most
countries lack not only data and information from in-situ measurements using ground-based
air quality monitoring networks, facing heavy geographic imbalance across their territories,
but also technical capacities for measuring impacts of air pollution crossing administrative
and political borders, which can be mainly addressed by satellite-derived data.
In this regard, the project had been prepared to:
• fill the data and information gap in the nation-wide monitoring of air quality
• install/operate Pandora instrument within the Pandora Asia Network
• integrate and validate GEMS data production with reliable ground monitoring
information for better understanding of air pollution, and improve model simulations
of air quality, including its forecasting and warning service
• enhance their capacity to undertake the comprehensive analysis of data derived from
space and ground networks; and
• promote policy dialogue on partnership and enhance the capacity for monitoring and
management of air pollution at the regional level and global level.
The project implementation faced an unexpected challenge, the outbreak of COVID-19
Pandemic resulting in notable changes in planned work and timeline, and different levels of
technical capacity and administrative requirement in the target countries. Despite various
impediments, the project has installed 17 Pandora instruments across 7 countries, enhanced
national capacity of utilizing advanced monitoring tools, GEMS and Pandora, through a series
of regional and national trainings, and established a community of institutions and experts,
Pandora Asia Network (PAN).
There remain still various technical challenges in the full utilization of the GEMS and Pandora
data. To tackle the challenges, during the 3rd PAN workshop held in November 2024, national
presentations proposed the continuation of training programmes including on data validation
and utilization and in-depth data analysis, the development of advanced algorithms for
combining PANDORA and GEMS data, the development policy briefs and analytical papers,
etc. In this regard, the Project Wrap-Up Meeting will be held to review key outcomes of the
project, lessons learned and potential follow-up activities.
Purpose and Objectives
• Review key outcomes of the PAPGAPi project in the regional and national contexts
and discuss lessons learned
• Review of GEMS data utilization in academic community and discuss strategies for
utilizing GEMS and other remote sensing data for science-based air quality
management
• Present follow-up actions of ESCAP and NIER on the operation of PAPGAPi and
PAN, respectively, and the plan of national project partners
Expected Participants
• Representatives of national project partners, and experts