21 March 2016.

Embassy of France in Serbia and CEDEF Conference

Air pollution: the contribution of local communities in fight against climate change

21 March 2016.

Embassy of France in Serbia and CEDEF Conference

HE Kristin Moro, Ambassador of France in Serbia and prof. dr Ana B. Bovan, CEDEF President opened the conference.

With the help of expertise, owned by the French and Serbian, this gathering has indicated the crucial role of municipalities in the process of defining integrated strategies with local and civil society actors in order to combat air pollution and mitigate global warming.

Within the French Presidency over the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, Embassy of France and CEDEF continue to strongly support Serbia in fulfillment of the commitments under the Paris Agreement, adopted on the 12th of December last year.

Through the joint work on the tight connection that exists between the occurrence of air pollution and climate change, which represent a real challenge at the local level, this meeting has enabled easier exchange of the experiences and examples of best practice in the fight against the climate change. During this event the solutions were presented, with special emphasis on the mechanism introduced in France in order to prevent air pollution at the local level: Regional Climate-Air-Energy Plan.

Speakers at the seminar were: Guy Berge, President of Agency Air Lorraine and Sebastien Douche from the city Metz. Dejan Lekic and Tihomir Popović from Serbian Environmental Protection Agency, Vlatka Matkovic Puljic from the Health and Environment Alliance, prof. dr Maja Nikolić from Public Health Institute Niš, Miodrag Grujić from the Secretariat for Environmental Protection of the City of Belgrade, Slobodan Misanovic from Public Transport Company.

Photo gallery of the event can be seen here.

Presentations of speakers can be seen here.

Official invitation you can download here.

Conference Programme

10h-10h30 Registration of participants
10h30-10h45 Opening remarks
HE Mrs Christine Moro, Ambassador, French Embassy in Serbia
Prof. dr Ana B. Bovan, CEDEF President
10h45-11h30 Integrated climate change and air quality strategies:
a winning combination
Air Pollution in Serbia – challenges we face
Dejan Lekić, Assistant Director- Serbian Environmental Protection Agency

Air quality and climate change: two separate topics, one unified community action
Sébastien Douche, Agglomeration of Metz

11h30-12h30 Air pollution: a public health challenge in Serbia
Unsettled account made by coal-fired plants in Serbia
Vlatka Matković Puljić, Project Coordinator for South and Central Eastern European countries, Health and Environment Alliance

Air quality evaluation and monitoring tools in Serbia
Tihomir Popović, Air Quality Monitoring Department, Serbian Environmental Protection Agency

Serving sustainable public policies: the mission of regional air quality monitoring agencies in France
Guy Bergé, President, Agency Air Lorraine

Air pollution and children health care in Serbia
Prof. dr Maja Nikolić, Director of education and science research, Public Health Institute Niš

12h30-13h Coffee-break / Light lunch
13h-14h15 Which tools are required in order to prevent air pollution at a local level?

The Territorial Climate and Air Plan of Metz: a participative approach to fight against air pollution Sébastien Douche, Guy Bergé

UNEP project - Example of best practice, City of Belgrade
Miodrag Grujić, Secretariat for Environmental Protection, Belgrade

14h15 Conclusions

Prof. dr Ana B. Bovan, CEDEF President