Jim co-chaired the 21st meeting on
Air Quality Modelling, Monitoring and Management held at Certosa di Pontignano,
Universita Degli Studi di Siena from the 3rd to the 5th
of June 2013. Read his welcome address below.
Welcome Address. Air Pollution
21
Welcome
to the Twenty First International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and
Management of Air Pollution held in Certosa di Pontignano,
Universita Degli Studi di Siena, Italy and organised by the Wessex
Institute of Technology and the University of the West of England. This
successful international meeting builds upon the prestigious outcomes of the 20
preceding conferences beginning with Monterrey, Mexico in 1993 and most
recently in Malta in 2011 and A Coruna, Spain in 2012. I am delighted that the
Co-Chairs from that first meeting in Monterrey, Professors Brebbia and Zanetti,
are here today to contribute to this meeting. The Air Pollution series
of meetings has attracted outstanding contributions from leading
researchers from around the world. The peer reviewed papers selected for
presentation and included in the Conference Proceedings have been permanently
stored in the WIT eLibrary as Transactions of the Wessex Institute (see http://library.witpress.com). These
collected papers provide an important record of the development of science and
policy pertaining to air pollution. To have reached a total of twenty one
successful conferences on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution
is a significant achievement and I would like to thank the many colleagues in
academia and practice around the world who have contributed to this series of meetings.
Undoubtedly, the series has filled a significant gap in the conference
landscape and during the 21 year period there have been many competitor and
complementary conferences launched. That the conference series
continues to grow and meet the demands of a discerning market is testament to
the quality of the science and policy presented at the meetings, the
publication formats and the quality of the conference venues.
The twenty one conferences
in this series have discussed many important air pollution issues and the
international nature of the attendees has ensured that of the conference
findings and conclusions enjoy a wide and rapid dissemination amongst the air
pollution science and policy communities. The conferences to date have
concluded that despite the long history of attempts to manage the consequences
of air pollution the issue remains one of the most challenging problems facing
the international community. The conference series has demonstrated the wide
spread nature of the air pollution phenomena and has explored in great depth
the impacts of air pollution on human health and the environment. Conference
presentations have explored the causes of air pollution from transport,
manufactured goods and services and discussed the often unintended, but none
the less real, impacts on the atmospheric environment at scales from the local
to the global. A particular strength of the conference series has been the
attention given to regulatory and, more recently, market solutions to air
pollution management. Conference delegates have explored a range of
regulatory successes in minimising such impacts but equally have recognised
that the continuing development of the global economy bring new pressures upon
the ability of the atmosphere to process pollutants and to safely remove
them. The willingness of governmental authorities to move quickly
to regulate air pollution is often balanced by concerns over the economic
impact of such regulation. This frequently results in a lag between the scientific
knowledge about the nature, scale and effect of air pollution and the
implementation of appropriate, targeted and timely legislation.
The
conference series has consistently acknowledged that science remains the key to
identifying the nature and scale of air pollution impacts and reaffirmed that
science is essential in the formulation of policy relevant information for
regulatory decision-making. The conference series also recognised, at a
very early stage, that science alone will not improve a polluted atmosphere.
The scientific knowledge derived from well designed studies needs to be allied
with further technical and economic studies in order to ensure cost effective
and efficient mitigation. In turn, the science, technology and economic
outcomes are necessary but not sufficient. Increasingly, the conference series
has recognised that the outcome of such research need to be contextualised
within well formulated communication strategies that help policy makers and
citizens to understand and appreciate the risks and rewards arising from air
pollution management. Consequently, the conference series has enjoyed a
wide range of high quality presentations that develop the fundamental science
of air pollution and an equally impressive range of presentations that places
these new developments within the frame of mitigation and management of air
pollution. The peer reviewed nature of the conference volumes enables policy
makers to confidently use the new findings to formulate sustainable decisions
and to build public acceptance and understanding of the nature and scale of the
air pollution problem.
This
conference brings together contributions from scientists from around the world
to present recent work on various aspects of the air pollution phenomena.
Notable in each of the twenty preceding conferences in this series has been the
opportunity to foster scientific exchange between participants. New
collaborations amongst scientists and between scientists and policy makers or
regulators have arisen through contacts made in this series and each meeting
has provided a further opportunity for identifying new areas of air pollution
science demanding collaborative investigation. Contributions in the twenty
first conference in the Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution
series continue to address a broad range of urgent scientific and technical
developments in our understanding of the cause, consequence and management of
air pollution.
In
conclusion I would like to thank the authors for their contributions and to
acknowledge the eminent members of the International Scientific Advisory
Committee for their assistance with the organisation of the conference and in
particular for their support in peer reviewing the papers.
Thank
you.
Jim
Longhurst
Siena,
Italy
June
2013
