1st. International Congress on Dust Haze

Suggested Themes

1- Investigation and identification of the factors involved in the production of Dust Haze

* Climate change – investigating the trends in climate change and the solutions

* Identifying the main origins of dustification – the critical areas of wind erosion

* Environmental factors (environmental change, wetland and lake dry-up or decline, reducing water resources and their limitations, desertification, …)

* Natural disasters (droughts, earthquakes, …)

*Human factors (environmental degradation, overexploitation of natural resources, desertification, urbanization, construction and development projects, wars, …)

2- The geographical extent of the dust storm phenomenon

* Remote sensing applications in determining the geographical extent and dust storm trends

* GIS applications in determining the geographical extent of dust storm impacts

* New technologies used in forecasting the geographical extent of dust storm impacts

* Effects of geographical features on the extension or curbing of dust storm impact domains

3- Investigating the consequences and impacts of dust storm on agricultural and industrial activities

* Mechanisms used to assess and quantify the damages caused by dust storms in the different agricultural and industrial sectors

* Reducing livestock yield and performance in livestock breeding and fisheries and the related meat industries

* Reducing the quality of agricultural and livestock products

* Imposing limitations on farming crops of interest

* Investigating the relationships between dust production and increasing/decreasing farm inputs (with due heed to water consumption)

* The adverse effects of dustification on major (petroleum, petrochemical, power, transportation, …) industrial activities

* The adverse effects of dustification on energy (electrical power and fossil fuels) and water consumption by different (industrial, agricultural, and urban and rural) users

* Limitations and difficulties caused by dustification and dust storms for power transmission lines

* Reducing crop yield and performance in all horticultural and agronomical crops and the related food industries

4- Environmental impacts of dust storms

* Natural resources (forests, rangeland, water resources, …)

* Wildlife

* Desertification

* Ecosystem change

5- Dust storm impacts on human health

*Effects of suspended/saltating dust on causing/intensifying various human (coronary, respiratory, infectious, allergic, …) diseases

* Effects of dust particles on maternal and fetal health

* Relationships between dust storms and cancerous and other malignant diseases

* Effects of dust storms on children’s mental (IQ) and physical development

* Effects of dust storms on human psychological health

6- Dust storm effects on socioeconomic activities and their consequences

* Intensified migration/immigration, specifically among the more educated population, from endangered areas to safer areas

* Reduced income and/or unemployment in urban and rural areas

* Damages and reduced income in the agricultural sector

* Declining income from tourism

* Flight safety due to reduced visibility

* Socioeconomic consequences of limitations imposed by dust storms (such as reduced individual and social productivity, suspension or closedown of recreational and educational centers, flight delays/cancellation, …)

7- Provisions for combating dust storms and controlling their impacts

* Monitoring and alarming systems and techniques to warn dust storm arising within and without the national boundaries

* Short-term, mid-term, and long-term practices for soil protection and anchoring blowing sand dunes

* Desertification control, increasing vegetative cover, and creating protective green belts

* Adapting urban development projects and water development schemes to the environmental conditions and the local ecosystem

* Protection and reclamation of water bodies, especially wetlands and lakes in the region, which are effective in controlling and reducing dust and dust storm generation

* Capacity-building in the health service system (development and equipment of health centers, training, investigation of the effects of dust storms on human health, …)

* Raising public awareness and offering training to rural and urban communities for self-protection

* Development of the infrastructure in both urban and rural areas required for combating and reducing the adverse effects of dust storms

8- Legal and international aspects of dust storms

* Multilateral coordination and cooperation among the states in the region and international agencies

* Legal aspects of damages caused by dust storms

* Providing legal support to the legal sufferers and individual victims of dust storms

* The legal issues associated with the prevention and limitation of dustification factors and providing protection against its adverse effects