Suwon Receives Certification as Good Air City Model

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City has been selected as a Good Air City model in recognition of its efforts to improve air quality, including fine dust reduction.

The city received a certificate of selection as a 'Good Air City' at the 10th Air Day commemoration ceremony held on the 25th at COEX in Seoul in 2019.

Suwon's customized response projects for fine dust reduction received high praise. The city has pursued comprehensive measures with the goal of creating a "safe city free from fine dust concerns" and reducing ultrafine dust concentration by at least 30% compared to 2017 by 2022.

The city announced that expansion of eco-friendly transportation methods such as electric buses and bike-sharing, citizen participation in planting 1.25 million trees, and urban forest expansion efforts including green curtain creation received positive evaluation. In particular, the city explained that it earned high scores for efforts in citizen education, including operating a task force for creating fine dust-free neighborhoods and training ultrafine dust management specialists.

The city is pursuing air quality improvement efforts through ▲strengthening domestic and international cooperation ▲establishing rapid transmission and response systems during high pollution episodes and citizen protection measures such as mask distribution ▲expanding management of domestic pollution sources ▲urban renewal public transportation exclusive zone development projects.

Meanwhile, the Good Air City certification, hosted by the nonprofit Global Clean Air Alliance, is awarded based on comprehensive evaluation of the degree of air quality improvement, the excellence of air quality management policies, and continuous improvement efforts.

So far, Milyang, Goyang, Gwangju, Muju, Yeongdong, Fujiyoshida and Asahi-machi in Japan, and Qingdao in China have received certification. This year, Suwon, Gyeongju, Bucheon, and Dobong-gu were additionally certified.