Key Themes :

- Air Pollution and Climate Change – How can we link assessment, planning and policy at the local regional and international scales?
- Bio-diversity, Eco-system Services and Crop Damage – how can we help mitigate damage from air pollution, and contribute to protection of biodiversity?
- International Co-operation on air Pollution - How can we now build the hemispheric and global strategies now needed for Ozone, Methane and Black Carbon

Aims of the Meeting :

In its Final Declaration, the XVth World Clean Air Congress held in Vancouver, September 2010, concluded that global environmental challenges had in recent years become steadily more severe and pressing, and that in three principle areas a paradigm shift in the approach to air quality policy and its relation to the wider global environment, was now necessary, urgent and achievable. It urged a new focus on the impacts of air pollution on the health of eco-systems and biodiversity; a new approach to climate change which, through integrating climate and air pollution policies, would complement the current focus on long-term abatement of CO2 with a wider initiative on other climate forcing gases - ozone, methane and black carbon - which could deliver both major health benefits and mitigate near-term climate change; and, underpinning these two, a new effort to strengthen the institutions and processes for international co-operation on air pollution.

Structure of the Meeting :

The conference will be based around three mains session, each of half day duration, and each focusing on one of the three main themes. Each session will include state-of-the-art reviews, and presentations on recent developments and key current issues. The presentations will be given by invited experts and leading national and international policy makers. Where possible, background papers will be drafted and circulated to attendees before the conference.

Preceding these sessions will be an introductory Session where keynote Speakers will explore some of the linkages between the three areas. A Concluding Session on Friday afternoon will include reports from Session Chairmen and Panel Discussions, intended to draw out the main conclusions of the sessions, identify issues and future research needs, establish priorities and make recommendations for the development and implementation of future policy.