Twenty-two environmental professionals from across Pakistan completed a U.S.-funded three-day master class on “Approaches to Air Quality and the Environment.” The Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN) and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad organized the event in collaboration with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) at the university’s Professional Development Center. The participants, all alumni of U.S. government-funded exchanges, engaged in a multidisciplinary course on the scientific, technological, economic, and regulatory aspects of air quality management, expanding their expertise on the subject matter. Through both academic and hands-on training, participants learned about air-quality laws and regulations; how to calculate the health and economic impacts of air quality; and monitor and methods to manage air pollution sources by identifying pollution hotspots.
The three-day training marked the second phase of the master class program. Last year, the same group participated in the first phase, which focused on theoretical approaches to analyzing air pollution and quality. Mr. Ray Castillo, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, congratulated the participants on successfully completing the program and urged them to act as catalysts of change to improve air quality and the environment through coordinated efforts. “This year marks the 75th anniversary of U.S.-Pakistan bilateral relations, and together we can work to improve air quality to mitigate the most severe impacts of climate change,” Mr. Castillo said. He lauded the critical role that PUAN played in strengthening people-to-people ties between the United States and Pakistan through initiatives like this training, and applauded NUST for its world-class expertise and innovative training that is a model for raising awareness in Pakistan about climate change and the search for solutions to the global problem.
