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Aires Nuevos is the largest citizen air quality network for early childhood in Latin America. It was developed as a program to reduce young children's exposure to air pollution, bringing together local governments, universities, and communities. Created by Fundación Horizonte Ciudadano in partnership with the Centro de Acción Climática PUCV of Chile, and with support of CIFF and Bernard van Leer Foundation.
The Aires Nuevos program is a multi-stakeholder collaborative effort based on air quality governance that includes local governments, communities, and universities, who share their knowledge and expertise to make air quality not only a subject to measure pollutants' concentrations, but also to act to reduce exposure.
Installing IQAir air quality sensors in places with high concentration of children, like preschools or community centers, is the first step of the program, which then moves on to community integration. By monitoring real-time data on air quality, the hyperlocal measurements increase environmental awareness among the local population as well as among students and teachers.
Eight cities in the network have received training from Aires Nuevos, and they are working to implement local air pollution reduction actions. Lima, Peru, is one of these cities that serves as an example of a comprehensive program-related chapter. Six urban interventions have been made in children's spaces over the past two years to enhance the surroundings and reduce their exposure to air pollution.
The program has developed a toolkit in Spanish for protecting children from exposure to air pollution. Schools will likely experience an improvement in air quality if municipalities and communities support these efforts to improve the environment around schools.