APIENs Workshop – 8th December from 10:00 to 12:00

The purpose of UK APIENs (Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystem Networks) is to monitor and report the negative impacts of air pollution (e.g. acidification, eutrophication, ozone damage or changes in biodiversity) on ecosystems that are representative of freshwater, natural and semi-natural habitats and forests in the UK. It was formed in 2018 by integrating UK national air quality and ecosystem monitoring networks and surveys to meet monitoring (Article 9) and reporting (Article 10) obligations under the EU National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD 2016/2284) by the UK government. Future reporting will be under the transposed UK NEC Regulations Part 5, aligned to the 4-yearly European reporting cycle. Integrated data from APIENs will provide the evidence to determine the state of, and provide baseline against which any changes and potential recovery in ecosystem response to emissions reductions.

We would like to invite you to join us in a workshop on the UK APIENs (Air Pollution Impacts on Ecosystems Networks).  Registration link: https://ukri.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEqfuCtpzIjH9DFc-zPrKUf6aRZNw90IeCt

The aims of the workshop are: 

  • Introduce and update on UK APIENs 
  • Forming expert work groups for UK APIENs (Air Pollutants, Vegetation and Soil and Freshwater) to review documents produced by the project team on core/optional metrics, harmonising methods, network design, gaps and site selection.   
  • Exchange information and ensure cooperation among experts, policy makers, network managers and data users. 

 

Agenda:  

Time 

Topic 

10:00 

Welcome to the workshop and policy perspective (David Vowles) 

10:10 

Introduction to UK APIENs and objectives (Sim Tang) 

10:20 

Forming Expert Work Groups and objectives (Ed Rowe or Laurence?) 

10:30 

APEG: Air Pollutants Expert Work Group (Sim Tang, Christine Braban)  

10:45 

VSEG: Vegetation and Soil Expert Work Group (Ed Rowe, Laurence Jones, Simon Smart, Felicity Hayes)

11:00 

FWEG: Freshwater Expert Work Group (Don Monteith, Ellie Mackay, Phil Taylor) 

11:15 

Breakout rooms for each of the WGs (20 minutes for each) 

Questions: 

  1. Priority and optional metrics in UK APIENs - what are these, are they measured?  
  2. Methods, harmonisation?  
  3. Representative coverage? 
  4. Where are the gaps? 
  5. How can we improve? 
  6. Measurement frequency and reporting cycle?  

11:35 

Report back from each EGs – 5 mins per group 

11:40 

APIENs – updating site information and data collation (Sim, Phil and Cristina) 

  • 01/06/2022: Report APIENs sites and indicators (4-yearly cycle)   
  • 01/06/2023: Report APIENs data (4-yearly cycle)    

 

11:55 

Wrap-up, next steps 

 

We hope you can participate in this workshop and we very much look forward to meeting you for some lively discussions.