In order to manage the Earth’s resources and control atmospheric pollution from the local to the global scale, international agreements occur.

European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) is a co-operative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long range transmission of air pollutants in Europe. It is a scientifically based and policy driven programme under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) for international co-operation to solve transboundary air pollution problems. CLRTAP was signed in 1979 and entered into force in 1983 and has 51 parties. The EMEP’s aim is to regularly provide governments and subsidiary bodies under the CLRTAP Convention with qualified scientific information to support the development and further evaluation of the international protocols on emission reductions negotiated within the Convention.
It address the formation of ground level ozone, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals and particulate matter, as well as eutrophication and acidification.

Local air quality acts include the UK Clean Air Act, which was the first one in the world, followed by the US version, which is currently under review.

Featured Educators:

• Prof John Burrows

• Dr Martin Adams

• Dr Mark Parrington

Don’t forget you can download the video, transcript and take any quizzes available with the links on the right.