Laurence ROUÏL

Head of the Environmental Modelling and decision making department at INERIS (French Institute on Industrial Environment and Risks)

Laurence Rouïl is the head of the “Environmental modelling and decision making” department of the Chronic risks division at INERIS. She received her Ph.D in 1995 in the field of applied mathematics, and for about 20 years she has developed skills and competence in air pollution modelling fields, being the leader of research activities, with operational and regulatory applications. The PREV’AIR system (www.prevair.org) which the French air quality forecasting and mapping system, is one of the example of such projects that she developed with her team, more than 15 years ago and in cooperation with other research partners, to answer to policy makers expectations. She participates actively to the definition of the air quality monitoring strategy in France providing technical expertise to the Ministry in charge of the Environment. She is mandated by the Ministry as national head of delegation or competent authority in several bodies: the UN Air Convention, and several expert groups of the European Commission. Since September 2014, she chairs the EMEP Steering Body, which is the scientific body of the UN Air Convention. She brings her expertise to support and assist decisions makers in France and Europe in the implementation of cost-efficient air pollution control strategies.

> Managing air pollution or how to deal with a transboundary environmental stake

Air pollution results from complex physico-chemical processes that develop in the atmosphere under the influence of meteorology, natural and anthropogenic emission sources and background atmospheric composition. It is usually characterized by ambient concentrations and deposition of a number of chemical species that are targeted because of their harmful effects on human health and ecosystems among which sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter (PM), persistent organic pollutants (POPs including pesticides) or heavy metals.

For a several decades in-situ monitoring networks developed to track air pollution levels and their trends. For example, in Europe, the EMEP program of the Air Convention (CLRTAP) of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, fostered the implementation of networks monitoring not only concentrations and deposition but also effects (acidification, eutrophication, ozone effects). Long time series of measurements allow to describe the past and current situations, to understand driving mechanisms and to assess the efficiency of emission control strategies.

In Europe, the EMEP programme also highlighted the role played by transboundary air pollution fluxes and the need to bridge urban, regional and global scales, when looking for efficient management policies. This will be illustrated and discussed in the presentation, to investigate the reasons why the situation improved in some areas and for some pollutants, the remaining challenges and the available tools and solutions to deal with them.