Air Pollution & Plants Conference, Paphos 4-8 May 2020

Dr. Pierre Sicard

"I am pleased to announce that the joint conference entitled "Air Pollution threats to Plant Ecosystems" will be held in Paphos on May 4-8, 2020. This international conference aims to provide an attractive stage for fruitful scientific discussion to identify priorities, solutions and challenges for future research with an ultimate goal of improved health, sustainability and productivity of plant ecosystems worldwide."

Pierre Sicard, PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry, is working on air pollution and climate change impacts on forests ecosystems to reduce the risk for plant ecosystems, by using integrated assessment modelling; deposition model; epidemiological studies; and statistical and multivariate analysis. Dr Pierre Sicard is involved in numerous national & EU-funded projects as coordinator or Principal Investigator & steering committee. Under the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Pierre Sicard is Deputy of the Research Group 8.04.00 "Air Pollution and Climate Change". He is involved in the Editorial Board of Environmental Research & Climate journals. Dr Pierre Sicard is also involved as Regional Expert Group on Climate in "Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur" region.

Prof. Evgenios Agathokleous

"It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 2020 events "Air Pollution threats to Plant Ecosystems". The events will be held in Cyprus, a regional hub for climate-change and air pollution research in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. Air pollution remains a persistent threat to plants and plant ecosystems, urging for international cooperation and unified research efforts. For the first time, the three events are brought together in an effort to enhance cooperation and exchange of ideas, and to encourage the adoption of common priorities for the coming decade. The organizers welcome participants from all over the world."

Evgenios Agathokleous, PhD in Environmental Resources, is a Professor (full-time) at the Institute of Ecology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, China. He is also an officer of the IUFRO, actively involved in the coordination of the Working Party 8.04.05 "Ground-level ozone". His research focuses on the impacts of environmental change on vegetation and ecological processes and on how optimum ecological protection can be offered so as to maintain ecological health and resilience. He is highly interested in regulatory activities and societal translation of science.

Prof. Elena Paoletti

"Following the success of the conference "Ozone and Plants" held in Beijing in May 2014 and in Florence in May 2018, I am pleased to announce this follow-up conference. This joint conference has the capacity of attracting scientists from very different countries and scientific backgrounds. We have the ambition to allow crop, forest and grassland experts as well as experimentalists, monitoring experts and modelers from all over the world to dialogue and share their most updated knowledge for the protection of plant ecosystems from air pollution in a changing climate. We cordially invite you not to miss this unique opportunity."

Elena is research director at the Italian National Council of Research, Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems, in Florence. She has several roles in the IUFRO, e.g. member of the IUFRO Board and coordinator of the Task Force on Climate Change and Forest Health. She is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute, visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing, editor for several journals e.g. Science of the Total Environment, Vice-President of the Italian Society of Forest Ecology and Silviculture. Elena has been working on the impacts of air pollution and climate change on plant ecosystems for around 30 years.

Dr. Silvana Munzi

"The challenge we are facing to protect the environment and cope with global change requires a multidisciplinary and unified effort. We hope that the researchers gathered in this meeting can take advantage of their different expertise and points of view to establish long-term cooperation and find solutions toward sustainability. More than a stage to show our research, we aim at creating a stimulating environment to exchange ideas."

Silvana Munzi is Research Assistant at the Universidade de Lisboa where she held a Marie Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow. Her current research is driven by three overarching objectives: i) exploit the possible practical applications of lichens as ecological indicators; ii) investigate common patterns of stress response, in particular nitrogen, in symbiotic systems; iii) provide science-based indications on nitrogen use to industry, policy-makers and citizenry for a more sustainable development. Her interest in Mediterranean ecosystems contributed to her engagement in the CAPERmed. She is Secretary of the International Symbiosis Society, reviewer for several journals and editor for the journal Symbiosis.

Dr. Alessandra De Marco

"As new Coordinator of the IUFRO Research Group 8.04.00 "Air pollution and Climate Change", I am glad to invite all the experts working on forest ecosystems to our traditional biennial conference. The conference will be a good opportunity to share knowledge and results about air pollution and climate change impacts on forests ecosystems with an integrated approach, ranging from modeling to monitoring, from genetic to field studies. I look forward to meeting you in Paphos."

Alessandra De Marco is a biologist, researcher in Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). Involved since 2014, she is coordinator of RG 8.04.00 under the IUFRO. Since 2018 vice-chair of Working Group on Effects under LRTAP convention. Main interest fields are: climate change and air pollution interactions and their synergistic impacts on natural and anthropogenic ecosystems; integrated assessment modeling to estimate beneficial effects of policies and measures to reduce air pollution; modeling air quality and its impacts on ecosystems.

Dr.  Harry Harmens

"It's my pleasure to invite you to the 2020 conference on "Air Pollution threats to plant ecosystems". Ground-level ozone pollution is a global problem that requires global measures to reduce the emission of ozone precursors and subsequent adverse impacts on vegetation (crops, forests and other (semi-) natural vegetation). Ozone pollution and its precursors are transported over long distances and ozone is also a potent greenhouse gas. Hence, international negotiations are required to tackle ozone pollution worldwide. Evidence-based research on the impacts of ozone on vegetation is essential to guide international negotiations and assess the effectiveness of air pollution policies."

Dr Harry Harmens is a senior scientist at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bangor, UK. He has more than 25 years experience in studying the impacts of air pollution and climate change on vegetation. Since 2004, he is the Chairman of the ICP Vegetation, an International Cooperative Programme reporting on the impacts of air pollutants on vegetation to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). An important part of the programme is the development and application of ozone critical levels for vegetation, collating evidence and quantifying impacts of ozone on food production and terrestrial ecosystems. Communicating science to policy makers is an important part of his job.

George A. Manganaris

Associate Professor

Cyprus University of Technology
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology & Food Science

Vasileios Fotopoulos

Associate Professor

Cyprus University of Technology
Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology & Food Science

Konstantinos Saitanis

Associate Professor

Agricultural University of Athens
Laboratory of Ecology and Environmental Sciences