Ambient air quality standards and air quality monitoring are two important measures vital to the success of an air quality management system. The establishment of standards is an essential tool to help protect public health and the environment. Routine air quality monitoring, on the other hand, allows monitoring of compliance with standards, assesses trends in air pollution levels and exposures, and evaluates progress and effectiveness of air quality policies and measures.

In Guidance Area 1, learners will understand why and how air quality monitoring is performed effectively, which can establish and/or strengthen air quality standards and sustainable national and local air quality monitoring programs that would enable deep understanding of air quality status. This module is divided into two sections: 1) Ambient Air Quality Standards – discusses difference between air quality ‘standards’ and ‘guidelines’, different international ambient AQ standards and guideline values, and implementation of AQ standards; and 2) Air Quality Monitoring – discusses air pollutant monitoring, AQ assessment and reporting.