International Conference on Deriving Environmental Quality Standards for the Protection of Aquatic Ecosystems (EQSPAE – 2016)

Following the great success of EQSPAE – 2011 Conference, this second conference aims to bring nationally and internationally renowned experts in the field of scientific derivation of environmental quality benchmarks to Hong Kong where they will share their knowledge and expertise on the latest development in the field with our local and regional experts and environmental practitioners from government, academia and private sector.

Environmental quality benchmarks (EQB) such as water and sediment quality guidelines of chemical contaminants are indispensable tools for effective monitoring and regulation of these environmental contaminants so as to protect aquatic ecosystems, precious natural resources, and human health.  

Over the past five years, there have been rapid developments in the science and methodology for deriving generic EQB and site-specific EQB as well as advancements in their related policy and application for water quality management in different parts of the world.  However, there are a number of challenging issues which are yet to be fully tackled, for example:

• How can we modify the current EQB of chemical pollutants while considering the combined effect of the chemicals and climate change (e.g. temperature and pH changes) to aquatic life?
• How can we derive and apply appropriate EQB of individual chemical pollutants while we are in fact required to manage chemical mixtures and multiple stressors in the aquatic environment of concern?
• How can we make use toxicity information from non-native species to protect locally un-tested species?
• How can we make use toxicity information from temperate regions to protect topical aquatic ecosystems?
• What are the best ways to design and conduct field experiments to validate the effectiveness of EQB for protecting biodiversity or ecosystem functions?
• How can we increase ecological realism in scientific derivation of EQB?

These questions are important for environmental protection. Scientific answers are needed to support the efforts of the Central Government of China and authorities in other countries involved in setting legislation to reduce pollution and protect the aquatic environment.  Scientists and environmental experts from the Asia Pacific region and elsewhere will discuss these questions specifically and provide their recommendations at this upcoming EQSPAE-2016 Conference.