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The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, often abbreviated as Air Convention or CLRTAP, is intended to protect the human environment against air pollution and to gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution. It is implemented by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP), directed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There were 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol, effective December 2012) to the Protocol in 2020.
Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides or Their Transboundary Fluxes, opened for signature on 31 October 1988 and entered into force on 14 February 1991, was to provide for the control or reduction of nitrogen oxides and their transboundary fluxes. It was concluded in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds or Their Transboundary Fluxes is a protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution which aims to provide for the control and reduction of emissions of volatile organic compounds in order to reduce their transboundary fluxes so as to protect human health and the environment from adverse effects. The protocol was concluded at Geneva, Switzerland.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978, or "MARPOL 73/78" is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions. It was developed by the International Maritime Organization with an objective to minimize pollution of the oceans and seas, including dumping, oil and air pollution.
An emission inventory is an accounting of the amount of pollutants discharged into the atmosphere. An emission inventory usually contains the total emissions for one or more specific greenhouse gases or air pollutants, originating from all source categories in a certain geographical area and within a specified time span, usually a specific year.
Arctic haze is the phenomenon of a visible reddish-brown springtime haze in the atmosphere at high latitudes in the Arctic due to anthropogenic air pollution. A major distinguishing factor of Arctic haze is the ability of its chemical ingredients to persist in the atmosphere for significantly longer than other pollutants. Due to limited amounts of snow, rain, or turbulent air to displace pollutants from the polar air mass in spring, Arctic haze can linger for more than a month in the northern atmosphere.
The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone is a multi-pollutant protocol designed to reduce acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone by setting emissions ceilings for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia to be met by 2010. As of August 2014, the Protocol had been ratified by 26 parties, which includes 25 states and the European Union.
The Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a 1998 protocol on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), is an addition to the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). The Protocol seeks "to control, reduce or eliminate discharge, emissions and losses of persistent organic pollutants" in Europe, some former Soviet Union countries, and the United States, in order to reduce their transboundary fluxes so as to protect human health and the environment from adverse effects.
Air quality laws govern the emission of air pollutants into the atmosphere. A specialized subset of air quality laws regulate the quality of air inside buildings. Air quality laws are often designed specifically to protect human health by limiting or eliminating airborne pollutant concentrations. Other initiatives are designed to address broader ecological problems, such as limitations on chemicals that affect the ozone layer, and emissions trading programs to address acid rain or climate change. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorising air pollutants, setting limits on acceptable emissions levels, and dictating necessary or appropriate mitigation technologies.
The Air Quality Agreement is an environmental treaty between Canada and the United States. It was signed on 13 March 1991 by Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney and American President George H. W. Bush and entered into force immediately. It was popularly referred to during its negotiations as the "Acid Rain Treaty", especially in Canada. Negotiations began in 1986 when Mulroney first discussed the issue with then-president Reagan. Mulroney repeatedly pressed the issue in public meetings with Reagan in 1987 and 1988
The Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as "the Parties",
Convinced that transboundary air pollution can cause significant harm to natural resources of vital environmental, cultural and economic importance, and to human health in both countries; Desiring that emissions of air pollutants from sources within their countries not result in significant transboundary air pollution; Convinced that transboundary air pollution can effectively be reduced through cooperative or coordinated action providing for controlling emissions of air pollutants in both countries; Recalling the efforts they have made to control air pollution and the improved air quality that has resulted from such efforts in both countries; Intending to address air-related issues of a global nature, such as climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, in other fora; Reaffirming Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration, which provides that "States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction";
Noting their tradition of environmental cooperation as reflected in the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, the Trail Smelter Arbitration of 1941, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, as amended, the Memorandum of Intent Concerning Transboundary Air Pollution of 1980, the 1986 Joint Report of the Special Envoys on Acid Rain, as well as the ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution of 1979;
Convinced that a healthy environment is essential to assure the well-being of present and future generations in Canada and the United States, as well as of the global community;
Have agreed as follows: ...
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 2003. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 1997. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 1991. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 1987. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
Emission control areas (ECAs), or sulfur emission control areas (SECAs), are sea areas in which stricter controls were established to minimize airborne emissions from ships as defined by Annex VI of the 1997 MARPOL Protocol.
The Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions is an agreement to provide for a further reduction in sulphur emissions or transboundary fluxes. It is a protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and supplements the 1985 Helsinki Protocol on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions.
The Protocol on Heavy Metals, a protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, was adopted in Aarhus, Denmark in 1998. As of 2004, it had 36 signatories. As of 2016, it had 35 signatories and 33 parties, with no country having become a signatory since 1998. The protocol addresses the reduction of cadmium, lead and mercury emissions in the interests of environmental protection. Amendments to the Protocol were agreed in 2012 to introduce more stringent emission limits but are not yet in force.
Brynjulf Ottar (1918–1988) was a Norwegian atmospheric chemist who served as the first director of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. In the 1970s, his pioneering work on the long-range transport of air pollution helped to alert the world to the problem of acid rain; later, he was one of the first scientists to describe the mechanism of global distillation, by which pollutants travel from mid-latitude parts of Earth to the Arctic.
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This article incorporates public domain material from World Factbook (2023 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2003 edition)