Workshop on Sustainable Air and Water Quality in the Middle East

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AbstractProposal Number: OISE-0929852Principal Investigator: Zafra LermanInstitution: Columbia CollegeTitle: Workshop on Sustainable Air and Water Quality in the Middle EastThe PIs will conduct a workshop on Sustainable Air and Water Quality in the Middle East. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the fourth conference ?Frontiers of Chemical Science IV: Research and Education in the Middle East ? A bridge to Peace and International Development,? that is planned to be held in Amman, Jordan on November 14-19, 2009. Scientists from developing and developed nations will discuss and define the issues critical to urban and regional air and water quality in the Middle East. They will develop new approaches to ensure sustainable levels of potable water for the region. In the Middle East, regional action requires cooperation across multiple national boundaries and collaboration among peoples currently divided by a range of ethnic, religious, political, and economic differences. Scientists from a range of Middle Eastern nations, aided by knowledgeable and experienced scientists from developed nations, will meet to define the environmental challenges facing the region, develop monitoring strategies to characterize and track pollution levels and allow sustainable economic growth coupled with improved environmental quality. In terms of the broader impacts, the ultimate goal of the workshop is to stimulate the needed multinational collaborative energy and spirit to solve important regional problems and to develop collaborative research proposals for international funding agencies and regional governments. US scientists involved in this effort will advance their professionalism through international experience and exposure beyond the nation's borders. Their effort will help solve regional, if not global, air and water quality problems and promote collaborations in a region vital to US national interests. This workshop is co-funded by the Atmospheric Chemistry program in the Geosciences Directorate, by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, and by the Environmental Remediation program in the Engineering Directorate.