Dr. Bertrand Bessagnet from INERIS was invited to give a conference in ICARE on June 5th. The conference was organized in the framework of the “French environmental month” activities by the French Embassy in China. Dr. Bessagnet shared the technology, management and policy experience of France in the environmental sustainable development strategy with the audience.
Mr. Eric MOLAY, Attaché for university cooperation at the French Consulate General (FCG) in Wuhan, and Mr. Marc BONDIOU, Attaché for Science and Technology at the FCG attended the conference. Professors and students from School of Environmental Science & Engineering at HUST also attended the conference. Mr. MOLAY made a short speech preliminary to the conference to introduce "French environmental month" activities.
“China and French established cooperation on environmental issues but Chinese government is presently in urgent need of acquiring an air quality management and France experience could be extremely relevant”, said Dr. Bessagnet. France experience can be traced during the swift development of the 19th century industrial revolution and the resulting \ high environmental pollution. Since then French government invested in technology to manage air pollution and spare environment. INERIS, which is under the administration of Ministry of Ecology in France originates from the restructuration of both French Coal Industry Research Center (CERCHAR) and the Industrial Chemistry Research Institute (IRCHA) in 1990. Its mission is to carry out or commission studies and research programmes aimed at preventing the risks brought about by economic activities on health, the safety of persons and property and on the environment, and to provide any services intended to facilitate the adaptation of companies with this objective in mind.
Afterwards, Dr. Bessagnet displayed several models and tools used to monitor air pollutant and air quality management, in particular the "CHIMERE" chemical transfer model. This model is used all over France to monitor air pollutant and is widely acknowledged and used in Europe too. He also mentioned the national air quality prediction system--“PREV’ AIR” platform. It analyzes and predicts particulate matter pollution incident then reports regularly to the French government, especially French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, to avoid air malignant events. When talking about the ratio of input and output of environmental protection, Dr. Bessagnet stressed that in the long run, the benefits to economy, society, public health and the others are significant. An example is that the more comfortable the environment and climate condition, the less health spending correspondingly.
