29 October 2014, Zhuhai, China — A multidisciplinary group of international experts shared latest knowledge on regional urban air pollution and its countermeasures, and identified future opportunities for collaboration in research and capacity development, in a three-day meeting held in Zhuhai, a South China city in Guangdong Province.
The meeting, “International Expert Meeting on Air Pollution Control in Urban Asia-Pacific”, hosted by Beijing Normal University Zhuhai (BNUZ) and jointly organised by the APN, BNUZ and the Hyogo Prefectural Government of Japan, was held amid increasing public concern in Asia-Pacific countries over the adverse natural and social-economic impacts of atmospheric pollution, including on climate, agriculture, biodiversity, public health, as many countries in the region are experiencing rapid economic transformation that leads to increased energy consumption — a main anthropogenic contributor to air pollution in major cities in the region.
The issue of urban air pollution was probed from various perspectives including environmental science, economics, transportation and public health, by scientists, practitioners and officials from government agencies and research institutions at global, national and local levels, including the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) based in Potsdam, Germany.
The meeting also provided a forum for information exchange between the sister states Guangdong and Hyogo, where local experts had engaging discussions on the current status of urban air pollution and countermeasures being undertaken.
It is expected that the findings of the meeting, which includes a summary of the gaps and needs for further regional collaboration on urban air pollution research, will guide the development of a future work plan that will help achieve APN’s goal of enabling member countries to address various global change issues in the region through collaborative measures.
