PREPAIR chosen as case study at the laboratory about multi-level governance of environmental policy: the “Air” directive

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Last Friday, July 6, the second EIR (Environmental Implementation Review) laboratory was held: an in-depth study on the multilevel governance of environmental policy in the Italian regions and autonomous provinces, based on the presentation of practical cases referring to the implementation of European directives.

The laboratory was part of a cycle of European training courses organized by CINSEDO, an interregional study and documentation center, and in particular of a series dedicated to the Air Directive. PREPAIR was chosen as case study and as example of a multilevel governance on the topic of air.

The project was presented by the lead partner, Emilia Romagna Region.

See the project presentation (in Italian and English)























Communication on the use of biomass: the first survey of PREPAIR is online
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The first report of the project PREPAIR is now online: it is a survey on the communication experiences about the environmental impacts of the burning of wood biomass previously conducted in the Po basin and in Slovenia.


The survey was coordinated by Lombardy Region and realized within the communication action dedicated to the correct use of biomass; it collects and describes the most significant projects realized in the last years on the topic of the correct use of biomass and on the appliances used for domestic heating.


Starting from this survey, a communication campaign on the correct use of biomass for domestic heating will be developed and realized on the whole project’s territory by the partners involved in this action.


The survey is in Italian language with an English abstract. You can see it here.


Fitness check of the EU ambient air quality directives: a stakeholder workshop in Brussels
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The fitness check of the EU ambient air quality directives looks at their performance and evaluate their implementation: on Monday, June 18 in Brussels a stakeholder workshop is organized as part of the public consultation to undrpin this fitness check.


The purpose of a public consultation in general and the stakeholder workshop in particular is to assist in gathering evidence, to confirm the issues for the evaluation and to solicit views on the performance and implementation of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives.


It’s expected that the stakeholder workshop will be attended by approximately 250 participants. Participants should include national, regional and local governments, environmental and other public bodies, representatives of the business and trade organisations, civil society, international organisations, academia and the research community.


Public consultation is open from 8 May 2018 until 31 July 2018: go to the public consultation and fill out the Survey


For further information about the Stakeholder workshop visit this link.


Approved a common monitoring protocol: the first result of PREPAIR monitoring actions
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Monitoring the implementation and results of air quality actions in the Po valley in a coordinated and homogeneous way is the strategic target pursued by the Italian regions and provinces of the project (Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Valle d’Aosta, Province of Trento), which approved a common monitoring protocol to adopt experimentally at least until 2023 and to implement through a specific web application that will be developed by ERVET.


This is the first expected result of PREPAIR within the monitoring actions of air quality, preparatory to the evaluation of the relative emission impacts.


The monitoring protocol foresees a common structure of responsibilities, deadlines and monitoring indicators and the use of a web platform that will allow to report the actions and to monitor their implementation status. It will therefore be possible to evaluate and communicate the achieved results at the Po basin level. The indicators used will give a framework of the policy instruments activated and of the financial resourced used, of the impacts on the territory and of the reduction of polluting emissions.


The 427 measures already planned by the regions through their air quality plans or other plans and programs and through the Po basin agreements for the quality of air of 2013 and 2017 with the Ministry of the Environment will be monitored. These measures refer to all the impacting sectors such as mobility, industry, energy efficiency of residential buildings, biomass combustion and agriculture.


Urban air quality: two days of works in Bologna within the project iSCAPE
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On May 10 and 11 in Bologna two days of works dedicated to urban air quality are organized by ARPAE and by the University of Bologna. Topics that will be discussed are passive control systems of urban pollution, low-cost sensors for air quality, people participation to the monitoring and management of the quality of air.


The event of May 10 will last the whole day and will be entirely held in English, whereas the event of May 11 will last only half a day, will be held in Italian and will focus on the situation of Bologna.


PREPAIR will also be present at the event of May 10, at the poster sessions.


Both days are organized within the Horizon 2020 project iSCAPE, which works on integrating and advancing the control of air quality and carbon emissions in European cities in the context of climate change through the development of sustainable and passive air pollution remediation strategies, policy interventions and behavioural change initiatives.


For more information and for subscribing to the events, please visit the following websites:


Urban air quality: designing and implementing effective control strategies (May 10)


Qualità dell’aria: pianificazione e coinvolgimento dei cittadini (May 11)


 


The first outputs of PREPAIR presented in Trento
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On March 14 and 15 the second project meeting was held in Trento, Italy: about a hundred people from the Regions and the environmental agencies of the Po Basin and Slovenia participated to the meeting and defined how to guarantee the best continuation of the project.


During the two days of work, thematic meetings on the project actions and their progress were organized and the administrative as well as the communication matters were discussed in the plenary sessions. Also, the first project outputs were presented.


In particular, the dataset containing the measures for the improvement of the air quality foreseen by the regional sector plans, by the Po Basin Agreements  of 2013 and 2017 and by the project itself, and the monitoring protocol of the measures were presented. Both these outputs are preparatory for the development of the web-based monitoring platform of the measures of air quality, which will be launched by the end of August, 2018.