The 14th EIONET workshop on air quality assessment and management were held on 5-6th October 2009.
AQAM workshop is organized each year in a different European city. This time the meeting was held in Warsaw at the invitation of the Chief Inspector for Environmental Protection. The workshops, co-organized by the European Environment Agency and the Department of Monitoring and Environmental Information at the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection (GIOŚ) which is the seat of the National Focal Point of the EEA, took place in Novotel Centrum Warszawa hotel.
Two-day deliberations foused on the following topics:
- monitoring of industrial pollution immissions, with focus on particular matter PM 2.5 (with particle diameter below 2.5 micrometers) and air quality indicators;
- effectiveness of European measures aimed at reducing emission of pollutants to the ambient air;
- Member States' air quality reporting to the Agency - among others submitting data from air monitoring stations to Airbase and reporting on the violations of ozone concentration limits in the summer season;
- drawing up the report on the state and outlook of the environment in Europe (SOER 2010) by the EEA in cooperation with the Member States;
- Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (CAFE) in conjunction with the work on the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) and the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE);
- transmission of data in near-real time, taking account of AirWatch Project and services developed under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)
Moreover, on 7th October 2009 the National Focal Point hosted representatives of the European Environment Agency in CIEP (GIOŚ) at a working meeting devoted to reporting of data on air quality in near-real time and to measures taken under in-situ GMES component. The discussions focused in particular on ensuring usefulness of the European projects for execution of reporting duties by the states and developing products that could be used by the local authorities which implement plans and programmes related to environmental protection and land use planning.
The stay in Warsaw also enabled the visitors from Europe to get to know the architecture and history of the Polish capital. On the first day of the workshop, after the meeting, members took a sightseeing tour around Warsaw and participated in Chopin concert in the Łazienki Royal Park Palace Complex Baths.
The European Environment Agency thanked for organizing the workshops which formed a perfect opportunity to discuss the most important European challenges in the context of ambient air, to present measurement results and measures aimed at developing modern monitoring networks and information infrastructure by EEA and Member States. It also offered the opportunity to get to know part of the Polish culture and history.
