IG³IS and Carbon Budget- Observations-based approach to support efficient mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions

4 November, 13:00 – 14:00 GMT

Long-term measurements of Earth’s atmosphere show rapidly rising concentrations of greenhouse gases linked to human activities. Existing observing networks provide information on greenhouse gas emissions at the global scale, but alone are not sufficient to target, quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions where they occur and can be controlled. Atmospheric measurement-based emission estimates developed within the framework of the WMO Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System support the diversity of user needs. Examples to be presented follow established international standards and cover scales from facility to urban to national.  

Moderator: Oksana Tarasova (WMO)

Speakers:

• Phil DeCola (USA): IG³IS approach
• Riley Duren (USA): Methane super-emissions at industrial facility scales
• Jocelyn Turnbull (New Zealand): GHG emission on urban scale and good practices
• Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher (New Zealand): Observational-based assessment of LULUCF
• Alistair Manning (UK): Improvement of the national emission inventory using atmospheric observations

 

 

Atmospheric Deposition, the invisible threat – impacts on agriculture, ecosystem and oceans

6 November, 18:00 – 19:00 GMT

Wet and dry deposition of atmospheric pollutants can have detrimental impacts on sensitive ecosystems, rivers, lakes and oceans and can also reduce crop yields. The international community is developing tools to provide globally consistent maps of ozone, sulphur and nitrogen deposition for evaluating the risks to agriculture and ecosystems. The concept of global system, deposition impacts and implications for the ocean management will be presented.

Moderator: Ariel Stein (USA)

Speakers:

• Lisa Emberson (UK): Impact of ground level ozone pollution on future of food security
• Thomas Dirnböck (Austria): Impacts of deposition on land ecosystems and biodiversity
• David Vousden (South Africa): Deposition and ocean management
• Amanda Cole (Canada): Measurement Model Fusion for Global Total Atmospheric Composition: the value of the global deposition maps

 

 

Air quality and health: lessons learned from COVID

11 November, 16.30 – 17:30 GMT

The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic halted nearly all the industrial, business and transportation sectors worldwide, with immediate, unintended effects on different environmental reservoirs, including the atmosphere. Although the large body of scientific studies that emerged in the wake of the pandemic proved that good air quality is not far-fetched, it also highlighted the remaining challenges demonstrating that some results are elusive and conflicting. This side event discusses the strategies that have emerged from these studies and unmasks why reducing the emission of the burning of fossil fuels –as widely advocated– may curtail but not completely eradicate the exposure to air pollution and puts this in the context of the future health impacts considering connection between pollution and climate changes.

Moderator: Zhu Tong (China)

Speakers:

• Ranjeet Sokhi (UK): Response of air quality to COVID-19 measures, global perspective
• Steven Turnock (UK): Connection between air quality and climate
• Benjamin Zaitchik (USA): Air pollution as a determinant of human health/impact on COVID-19
• Maria de Fatima Andrade (Brazil): Impact of COVID-19 measures on air quality: perspective from South America

 

 

Benefits of Integrated Urban Services

11 November, 18:00 – 19:00 GMT

Accelerating growth of urban populations has become a driving force of human development, especially in developing countries with expected urban population reaching 66% by 2050. Increasingly dense, complex and interdependent urban fabrics are rendering cities vulnerable. A single extreme event can lead to a widespread breakdown of a city's infrastructure, often through cascading downstream or “domino” effect. Integrated Urban Services have multiple benefits for the cities. By combining weather, climate, environmental and hydrological forecasting, the decision makers receive more comprehensive information and optimize the investment in the underlying infrastructure.

Moderator: Ian Lisk (UK)

Speakers:

• Feng Liang (China): Introduction to Integrated Urban Services
• Gerald Mills (Ireland): Requirements for the integrated urban services

Panellists:

• Valery Masson (France)
• Chao Ren (Hong Kong, China)
• Mariano Re (Argentina)
• Kenza Khomsi (Morocco)