NEWS

June 2008 

Exciting Plans for IUAPPA's 2008 Regional Conference

The 2008 regional IUAPPA conference will take place in the exciting surroundings of the African Bush, near South Africa’s beautiful, exotic Kruger National Park from 1-3 October 2008.

Held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Clean Air (NACA) of South Africa, the conference theme is “Where did all the Clean Air go?”  The conference is designed to provide an international perspective on air quality management issues in the developing world with emphasis on Africa.  The conference will focus on three underlying themes:

1.       Co-Benefits of Air Pollution and Climate Change mitigationinitiatives in Africa and the Developing World;
2.       Air Quality Management in Mega Cities - Air Quality ManagementChallenges and Opportunities –Experience of Asia; and
3.       Transportation Management – Challenges in Air QualityManagement – Experience of Latin America.

Topics for sessions include: Regional air quality, Urban air quality, New developments in air quality science (e.g. abatement technologies), Particulates, Air quality policy, experiences in air quality management in the developing world, Air quality and human health, Air quality reporting for public information, and Climate change.
 
IUAPPA will hold its annual board meeting in conjunction with the conference on 30 September 2008.

Details on paper submission, accommodations and the programme, can be found at the NACA website, www.naca.org.za.

Regional Air Pollution and Climate Change;
Promoting Cost-Effective Integrated Strategies

In December 2007 the Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum was awarded a grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to develop a programme and hold a major international conference on the co-benefits of controlling air pollution and greenhouse gases.   The conference will be held in late 2008.  The location has not yet been selected.
IUAPPA and the Stockholm Environment Institute founded the Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum in 2004 to help develop more effective ways for existing regional air pollution networks to share experiences and identify opportunities for collaboration.
The conference and Forum programme will focus on three major themes:

1. Towards optimizing integrated strategies for air pollution and climate change;

2. Potential regional, hemispheric and global frameworks for managing air pollution and their relevance to and interaction with the climate change community; and

3. Delivering co-benefits at urban, national and regional scales in developing regions.
This is the second major grant the Forum has received from Sida.
For more information see the Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum website at www.gapforum.org.

Success in Brisbane:  the 14th World Clean Air and
Environmental Protection Congress

Over 450 delegates from 29 countries attended the 14th IUAPPA World Clean Air and Environmental Protection Congress which highlighted solutions and challenges posed by air pollution and climate change.  Hosted by the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ), the Congress was held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Australia, from 9 – 13 September 2007.  The conference theme was “Clean Air Partnerships:  Coming Together for the Future.”

Forty-five sessions were held at the Congress, covering a broad range of topics, including air quality and health; transport emissions; modelling; particle measurement; emission inventories; rural/urban partnerships; energy sources and air quality; urban air quality; and indoor air pollution.  In total, 215 oral papers were presented and 35 poster papers displayed at the Congress. 

A copy of the full summary of outcomes will be available shortly.  A copy of the official proceedings on CD containing papers from concurrent oral sessions and poster presentations can be obtained by contacting CASANZ at www.casanz.org.au. 

Building on the outcomes of the London World Congress of 2004, that underlined the interaction of atmospheric pollution and climatic change problems, the Brisbane Congress highlighted the urgency of a better integration of research and policies on these two issues. 

The Congress featured a number of outstanding keynote addresses and plenary sessions.  These included: 

• Partnership Initiatives Toward Sustaining our Atmosphere by Dr. Ian Lowe (Australian Conservation Foundation);
• The Role of Transportation Related Emissions in Air Pollution, Public Health and Climate Change: Past Lessons for Future Actions by Dr. Alan C. Lloyd (International Council on Clean Transportation);
• Atmospheric Brown Clouds, Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change: Implications for the Water Budget of the Planet by Dr. Veerabran Ramanathan (University of California);
• Engagement of Communities, the Private Sector and Local Governments Toward Development of Policies and Funding of Initiatives for Clean Air in Asia by Ms. Bebet Gozun (Phillipines);
• The Challenge of Regional, Hemispheric and Global Air Pollution by Mr. Richard Mills (Director-general, IUAPPA) and Dr. Johan Kuylenstierna (Stockholm Environment Institute, York University);
• Global Warming by Prof. Andy Pitman (University of New South Wales); and
• Genes to People to Communities: Who is Susceptible for Air Pollution?  by Dr. Joel Schwartz (Harvard University).

The Congress featured three special sessions sponsored by the Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum.  They included 1) a dialogue on Inter-Regional Problems of Airborne Particles; 2) a workshop on Future Transport Technology for a Carbon-constrained, energy-hungry world; and a plenary session on “Tackling Regional and Global Air Pollution.”  
The Congress also included a number of interesting workshops and training courses on:

• Air Pollution Control;
• Ambient Air Monitoring;
• Aermod;
• Indoor Air Quality; and
• Modelling and Odour: Community Surveys and Buffer Criteria.

During the Congress sessions, the oral presentations were limited to 10 minutes, which allowed for discussion at the end of each session, helping to arrive at meaningful outcomes.  Presenters were asked to focus on results with full descriptions to be detailed in the written papers.  Session chairs provided outcomes which were summarised and presented in the closing plenary session. 

Key themes, outcomes and conclusions from the Congress include the following: 

There is a need to understand better the interactions between air quality and:

• greenhouse gas emissions;
• radiative balance especially the contribution of black carbon to the ‘Asian brown cloud’, which should be reduced at the same rate as other pollutants;
• climate change impacts;
• human health and well-being;
• environmental quality; and
• weather conditions, including cloud formation.

Other needs relating to climate change are a national strategy for resilience in the face of climate change, and better understanding and management of carbon emissions:

• in methane from swamps; and
• from agriculture, forest, and domestic burning.

Air pollution health impact assessments require consistent methodologies between collaborators with effective peer review.  Studies should take into account and quantify the influence of human factors as well as chemical and physical processes.  This requires careful quantification.  Further research is needed into:

• health effects of particle number, size and composition;
• thresholds for benzene, lead and ultrafine particle effects;

There is a need to quantify uncertainties and apply a risk analysis approach to regulation.  Then ensembles of models can be used for the best result.

Speakers recommended the setting of international minimum vehicle emission standards.  They also recommended that before introduction of alternative fuels, assessments consider:

• the performance of each fuel over the range of vehicles;
• the fuel source and its impacts eg displacing food source;
• chemical composition and combustion products; and
• total lifecycle assessment.

Community engagement was recognised to be essential and it should include linking health effect outcomes for both air quality and climate change.  Monitoring and other research programs can be enhanced by community participation.  Planning studies need to incorporate site specific criteria, the provision of transport infrastructure and the treatment of air quality as a resource.

Speakers also called for more tertiary courses specialising in the basic sciences underpinning air quality, especially chemistry, physics or biology.

See the December 2007 edition of the IUAPPA Newsletter for more information on the Brisbane World Congress.

IUAPPA Board Selects
New Leadership Team

At the IUAPPA Board meeting in Brisbane in September 2007, a new President, Treasurer and two new Vice-Presidents were selected to serve the next three years with three incumbent Vice-Presidents. 

Professor Alan Gertler from the Desert Research Institute in the United States was appointed President of IUAPPA on the nomination of the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA). 

New IUAPPA President Alan Gertler

Jean-Marie Rambaud, from the Association for the Prevention of Atmospheric Pollution, France, was elected Honorary Treasurer to succeed Joop Van Ham.  Past-President Steve Hart will become a Vice-President on appointment by A&WMA.  And following the completion of his term as an appointed Vice-President, Dr. Neville Bofinger of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand was elected as a Vice-President. 

The IUAPPA Board officers are:

President:  Alan Gertler, U.S.

Vice Presidents:
Randolpho Lobato, Brazil
Dr. K.C. Moon, Korea
Professor G. Zerbo, Italy.
Steve Hart, Canada
Dr. Neville Bofinger, Australia

Honorary Treasurer:  Jean-Marie Rambaud, France