PREPAIR presented in Brussels at the European week of “Regions & Cities”

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It is currently happening in Brussels the 15th edition of the European week dedicated to regions and cities –  #EURegionsWeek 2017 – under the headline “Regions and Cities working for a better future”. From the 10th until the 13th of October 130 workshops debates, project visits and networking events will be taking place; 28 partnerships of regions and cities, 14 Directorates-General of the European Commission, several networks, associations and other institutions have partnered up for it. The program of the week tackles three main themes: Building resilient regions and cities – #LocalResilience; Regions and cities as change agents – #TakeAction; Sharing knowledge to deliver results – #SharingKnowledge.

On Wednesday, October 11, the Emilia-Romagna Region will present PREPAIR within the workshop “Cities in transition – improving urban air quality”, organized by the Committee of the Regions of the European Commission. The workshop will explore some of the options that cities have to improve air quality management, it will highlight some of the challenges cities face when working to improve air quality and present examples how these have been overcome. PREPAIR will be presented during the session “Improving urban air quality – action at regional and city level”.

For further details see the dedicated webpage of the European Commission

Program of the workshop

LIFE-PLATFORM meeting on AIR QUALITY in Barcelona

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The LIFE-PLATFORM meeting on AIR will be held in Barcelona on the 26-27 of September with the title “Abating urban exposure to air pollutants”.

The meeting, hosted by the AIRUSE & IMPROVE LIFE projects and in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV), the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) and the European Commission, will be divided in two days and three blocks of sessions: the first on “Urban Air Quality Measures”; the second on “Citizen Exposure while Commuting”, and the third one on “Models and Tools for Air Quality Management”.

PREPAIR will be presented on this occasion, within the third block of sessions, by the project partner Province of Trento.

Program of the event

Next project meeting in Venice

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The second project meeting of PREPAIR will be held in Venice on the 28th and 29th of September, 2017.

The meeting, open to the project partners only, will have a focus on the state of the art of the project activities as well as the ongoing administrative procedures.

The new antismog agreement for the improvement of air quality in the Po Basin was signed in Bologna

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The international launch conference of PREPAIR ended with an important institutional moment: the Italian Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti together with the regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto signed the “New agreement for the coordinated adoption of measures for the improvement of air quality in the Po Basin”. Heart of this agreement is the common fight against air pollution, a particular intense problem in Northern Italy. The agreement aims at structural measures to be developed in the same way within the four regions – homogeneous rules of access in the “limited traffic zones”, car-sharing,  cycle-pedestrian mobility, diffuse distribution of alternative fuels, restrictions on circulation – in order to give concrete answers to an area of over 23 million residents (40% of the Italian population).  The management of emergency situations related to the overcoming of the PM10 pollution limits has also been shared, with common and homogeneous temporary prohibitions.

The agreement has been signed by the Italian Minister of the Environment, Gian Luca Galletti, and by the Presidents of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, and Piedmont Region, Sergio Chiamparino, and by the regional environmental ministers of Lombardy Region, Claudia Terzi, and Veneto Region, Gianpaolo Bottacin. The regional environmental ministers of Emilia-Romagna, Paola Gazzolo, and Piedmont, Alberto Valmaggia, were also there.

PREPAIR and the New Anti-Smog Agreement against air pollution in the Po Basin

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On June 8 and 9 the initial conference of the LIFE Integrated project PREPAIR has been held in Bologna, at the Emilia Romagna Region headquarters. Over thirty national and international speakers have participated to the two-days event, the European Commission was represented by Guido De Wilt for the DG Environment and Andrea Tilche for the DG Research and Innovation and the Slovenian and Italian Environment Ministries by Uros Vajgl and Gian Luca Galletti. During the first day of the conference, the five thematic pillars on which the project will act – agriculture, transports, biomass, energy efficiency and monitoring – have been presented by the respective people in charge, and several stakeholders (who will give their contribution throughout the whole project by taking part to the Stakeholder Board) discussed of the project actions that will be implemented in the next seven years. The networking with other European projects has also been stressed, as PREPAIR will build on previous successful experiences too.

The second day of the conference, a rather political-institutional event, ended with the signature of the “New Agreement for the coordinated and joint adoption of measures for the improvement of air quality in the Po basin” by the Regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto at the presence of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Gian Luca Galletti.

See the speakers presentations

See the interview of Guido De Wilt – European Commission, DG Environment

See the photo gallery

 

Initial Conference 8-9 June 2017

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The initial conference of PREPAIR was held in Bologna on June 8 and 9, 2017. Here you can see the program of the conference, the interviews and the speakers presentations. Read more