ROUND TABLE: The air we breathe: measuring and reducing air pollution in today’s València

Conference Room of the López Piñero Inter-University Institute (Cisneros Square, 4, 46003 València)

LIVE STREAMING

Air pollution is undoubtedly one of the great challenges facing our societies. We often hear of dramatic episodes going on in the industrial areas of China or the big cities of the world, from Mexico City to New Delhi. But we do not have to go that far to perceive the enormous impact that this pollution has on our health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated last year that more than 4 million deaths per year could be attributed to this source of contamination. Despite the fact that specific regulations were established in Paris in 1810 to control air pollution in the urban environment, the magnitude of the problem remains of top notch.

In Europe, although emissions of air pollutants have decreased substantially over recent decades and this has led to an improvement in air quality, air pollution continues to cause significant impacts on the population’s health. The European Environment Agency estimated that in 2016 in the 28 countries of the European Union (EU) there were more than 450,000 premature deaths due to exposure to air pollutants (mainly fine particles), of which 33,300 were in Spain. According to this report, a total of 8% of the EU’s urban population is exposed to concentrations of fine particles that exceed the EU limit value, and more than 77% is exposed to concentrations above the WHO Air Quality Guidelines.

In this round table we will deal with the specific case of the city of València. The current situation in València will be analysed, the suitability of the systems for measuring this pollution in the city will be discussed and both the measures implemented in recent years to reduce pollution and those that could be implemented following the model of other European cities will be dealt with. To consider all these issues we will have 4 experts who either from the administration, the scientific community or the social movements have a prominent role in the decision making and in the debates on urban pollution.

This round table is part of the activities that the López Piñero Inter-University Institute has been organising to deal with the regulation of various toxins, including urban and industrial fumes, from a historical perspective, but always with a clear desire to have a positive impact in the current reality. Some of these activities, such as the seminars under the title Toxic Atmospheres or the (in)visible Toxic Exposure Materials are available on the institute’s website. And, not least, these activities will be the starting point for the discussion that will follow the round table.

PARTICIPANTS

José Vicente Miró Bayar is chemist of the Universitat de València, specialising in Industrial Chemistry (Chemical Engineering).

He has developed his professional career in the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Government) linked to the protection of the environment and especially to the protection of the atmospheric environment. Since 1989 he has been a Technician, from 2000 Head of Service and from 2015 he is Deputy Director General of Climate Change and Environmental Quality.

Some of his relevant professional projects have been:

· The Valencian Network for Monitoring and Control of Air Pollution.

· The Technical Presentations of Law 7/2002, on Protection against Noise Pollution (Valencian Noise Law) and Law 34/2007, on Air Quality and Protection of the Atmosphere (Spanish Law on Air Pollution).

· The first website in Spain, the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Government), which reported air pollution in real time.

· Air Quality Improvement Plans in the Ceramic Area of Castelló, of the Alacantí and the València Metropolitan Area.

José Manuel Felisi is chemical engineer and top technician in indoor air quality, as well as member of València per l’aire. A platform of 23 citizen entities with great weight of neighbourhood associations, local parents’ associations, health and environmental agencies... From Forques Avenue to Túnel Verd Avenue, through Ecologists in Action, it includes a great interdisciplinary technical muscle: architects, environmental science graduates, doctors, mobility engineers, computer scientists, graphic designers...

We want to help and fight for a paradigm shift. We do not want to delay the solution. We want brave changes from now on.

Josep Enric Garcia Alemany is the Managing Director of the Empresa Municipal de Transports de València (EMT, Catalan for Municipal Transports Company of València) since October 2015, a company that began in 2018 to be a mobility operator after the concession of the management of public parking and recharging points for electric vehicles in the city. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Autoritat Metropolitana de Transports de València (ATMV, Catalan for Metropolitan Transport Authority of València) since its creation and a member of the Executive Committee of the ATUC. Trained as a civil engineer at the Universitat Politècnica de València, he has focused his professional career on the planning, management and design of mobility and public transport. Between 2006 and 2007 he worked for the Administration, from 2007 to 2014 as a project manager in private consultancy and from 2014-2015 he was the technical director of a major private transport operator.

Xavier Querol Carceller (Morella, 1963) is a Research Professor at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research of the Spanish Council of Scientific Research (CSIC). He researches in environmental geochemistry, especially air pollution. Doctor in Geological Sciences of the Universitat de Barcelona, he did his postdoctoral studies at the BGS-NERC, United Kingdom. Later on, he joined the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera of the CSIC. In 2008, he joined the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research. On Thomson Reuters/Clarivate’s list of the top 1% of the world's most cited researchers in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 He has directed numerous national and EU projects, including the recent award for the best LIFE Environment project in 2017, out of 550 articles in indexed scientific journals, and has directed 28 doctoral theses. Environment Award of the Generalitat de Catalunya 2009 and King James I Award 2013 in environmental protection, selected member of the Spanish Science Selection QUO-CSIC, 2017, and elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona in December, 2017, and Carmina Virgili Award 2019 of the Col·legi de Geòlegs de Catalunya.