An invitation to participate in. The 24 th Task Force Meeting of the UNECE ICP Vegetation. HSR, Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Switzerland

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1 UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Working Group on Effects International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops An invitation to participate in The 24 th Task Force Meeting of the UNECE ICP Vegetation HSR, Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Switzerland Monday 31 st January Wednesday 2 nd February, 2011 We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 24 tt Task Force Meeting of the UNECE ICP Vegetation. The meeting will be held in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. Information about the meeting, travel details and a registration form are included in this document. The meeting will accommodate approximately 60 participants, and places will be allocated on a first come, first served principle. Further details will be distributed in January Dr Harry Harmens, Dr Gina Mills and Dr Felicity Hayes ICP Vegetation Programme Coordination Centre Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, UK Local organizer Dr Lotti Thöni FUB Research Group for Environmental Monitoring, CH-8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland (With financial support of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the community of Rapperswil-Jona)

2 24 th Task Force Meeting of the UNECE ICP Vegetation 31 January - 2 February 2011 Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland Meeting venue The 24 th Task Force Meeting of the ICP Vegetation will be hosted by the FUB Research Group for Environmental Monitoring, Alte Jonastrasse 83, CH-8640 Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland ( Rapperswil-Jona is located at Lake Zurich. Accommodation and meals Rooms will be available in several hotels in Rapperswil Old Town, which is very near to the meeting place HSR, and in other parts of Rapperswil-Jona. The rooms will be reserved until 31 st December 2010 under the code Taskforce meeting. After this date, the availability of accommodation in these hotels cannot be guaranteed anymore. You should make your own hotel reservation directly by following the links provided, by phone or by logging on to the hotel websites. The full contact details and costs of the hotels are described in the Registration Form. The hotels Hirschen, Speer and Jakob are in the Old Town of Rapperswil-Jona in short walking distance from the railway station and the meeting venue at HSR. To get to the hotels Kreuz and Krone Kempraten you can take the bus, train or walk. More hotels in the surroundings of Rapperswil-Jona are mentioned in the Registration Form. These, however, have not been reserved for the Task Force meeting. There are bus and train connections to those hotels and if needed, a pick-up and drop-off can be arranged. The costs for the welcome buffet (Monday evening), tea/coffee during the meeting breaks, lunches in the HSR-institute s canteen on Tuesday and Wednesday and the conference dinner (Wednesday) are courtesy of the local organizers. Dinner on Tuesday evening can be taken in one of the restaurants in Rapperswil-Jona. Travel The nearest airport is Zurich airport ( There are several trains per hour running from the airport to Zurich main station (Hauptbahnhof) (takes 10 to 15 minutes) and then 6 local trains per hour (S5, S15, S7) from Zurich Hauptbahnhof to Rapperswil (takes about 40 minutes) until 9 pm; later on there are still 4 trains per hour (S5, S7) and the costs are ca. SFr You will arrive at short walking distance from the hotels in the Old Town, as well as from the location of the welcome buffet and the meeting venue HSR. For the other hotels it might be better to get off the train at another station (please ask Lotti Thöni directly). More information can be obtained from but please note that the timetable may change in December For those arriving by train, it is most convenient to get off at Zurich Main Station (Hauptbahnhof) and then to take the same local trains as described above. 2

3 Local information Rapperswil-Jona is a pretty town some 27 km to the south-east of Zurich City, directly on the shores of Lake Zurich. Rapperswil-Jona has a small but picturesque Old Town with a castle that most likely dates back to the beginning of the 13 th century. On Wednesday 2 nd February a sight-seeing tour is organised through the Old Town. Among other things the Wooden Bridge from Rapperswil to Hurden starting at HSR is very attractive. For further details see Registration Please return your registration form by Wednesday 1 December 2010 at the latest to Felicity Hayes (fhay@ceh.ac.uk). Posters and presentations There will be opportunities for participants to give an oral presentation or present a poster. Authors are requested to indicate their preferred presentation on the enclosed REGISTRATION FORM. One-page ABSTRACTS will be published in a book of abstracts. Authors should prepare their abstracts in a camera-ready form according to the enclosed instructions and them before Wednesday 12 th January 2011 to Harry Harmens (hh@ceh.ac.uk). Please do not hesitate to contact Lotti Thöni (lotti.thoeni@fub-ag.ch) or Harry Harmens (hh@ceh.ac.uk) if you need further details or have any queries. A provisional programme is provided below. Provisional Programme Monday 31 st January, :00 Welcome reception at the Circus Museum, in the harbour of Rapperswil Tuesday 1 st February, 2011 Session 1: 09:00 10:30 (Plenary session) Welcome, overview of recent ICP Vegetation activities and future developments, overview of LRTAP Convention priorities, collaboration with other ICPs. Coffee/tea and poster viewing: 10:30 11:00 Session 2: 11:00 12:45 (Plenary session) Continuation of plenary session. Lunch: 12:45 14:00 Session 3: 14:00 15:30 (Two parallel sessions: Ozone and Heavy Metals/N) 3

4 Coffee/tea and poster viewing: 15: Session 4: 16:00 18:00 (Two parallel sessions: Ozone and Heavy Metals/N) Wednesday 2 nd February, 2011 Session 5: 8:30 10:00 (Two parallel sessions: Ozone and Heavy Metals/N) Coffee/tea and poster viewing: 10:00 10:30 Session 6: 10:30 12:15 (Two parallel sessions: Ozone and Heavy Metals/N) Lunch: 12:15 13:30 Session 7: 13:30 15:30 (Plenary session) Reporting back from ozone and heavy metals sessions. ICP Vegetation work programme Collaboration with other relevant bodies/organizations. Conclusions and review of the 24 th Task Force Meeting. Any other business. Sight Seeing Tour through the Old Town of Rapperswil-Jona: 16: :15 Walk to the Conference dinner place Menu: Salad, Käsefondue (melted cheese with potatoes and bread). Alternative for those who can t eat cheese: Ghackets mit Hörnli und Öpfelmues (pasta with minced meat and apple sauce). Thursday 3 rd February, 2011 Departure: participants are to make their own travel arrangements to the airport. Parallel Sessions on Tuesday 1 st and Wednesday 2 nd February, 2010 There will be several parallel sessions on Ozone and Heavy Metals/N. Depending on papers offered, the following topics are likely to be presented and discussed: Ozone: Status revision Gothenburg Protocol and ex-post analysis for effects indicators not included in the GAINS (Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and synergies) model; Food security report; Results from the biomonitoring experiment with bean and salad crops in 2010; Further development of flux-effect modelling and its applications; Impacts on carbon sequestration and linkages with climate change; Links with other programmes inside and outside Europe. 4

5 Heavy Metals/N: Progress with the 2010/11 European moss survey; Mosses as biomonitors of heavy metal, nitrogen and POPs pollution; Relationships between atmospheric concentrations/depositions and concentrations in mosses for heavy metals and nitrogen; Country-specific spatial and temporal trends of the metal concentrations in mosses; Relationship between i) heavy metal and ii) nitrogen concentrations in mosses and impacts on ecosystems. Links with other programmes inside and outside Europe. 5