Newsletter #16

Summary

•   CALL FOR PAPERS – EXTENSION OF DEADLINE
•   PRESENCE OF ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA AT THE 57TH CONVENTION OF THE ARGENTINE CHAMBER OF CONSTRUCTION
•   INVITED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
•   INTERVIEW TO DR. ISHII YUMIO
•   THIRD FORUM ON REGIONAL APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, IN PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (CSD 18), ON 26 AND 27 NOVEMBER 2009, IN GUATEMALA
•   INTERVIEW TO ENGINEER LUCIANO GRONDA
•   PRESIDENT’S EDITORIAL
•   SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

New Deadline for Submission of Papers

Due to the many requests that have been received, it was decided to extend the deadline for the submission of ABSTRACTS for ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA, as follows:

Key Dates:

Deadline for abstract submissions	April 1, 2010
Abstract acceptance notification to authors and invitation for submission of final papers	April 15, 2010
Deadline for final paper submissions	June 15, 2010
Paper acceptance notification	August 15, 2010

For further information about general conditions, policies and requirements to be fulfilled for the submission of papers, please visit the Congress website: www.ingenieria2010.com.ar, in the section CALL FOR PAPERS.

Engineering 2010-Argentina was present at the 57th aniversary of the Argentine Chamber of Construction

The 57th Anniversary of the Argentine Chamber of Construction, co-organizer of ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA, was celebrated in the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center, in the city of Buenos Aires on November 24, 2009.
ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA was present with an institutional booth where brochures, printed material and information were handed out to the attendees in order to promote the World Congress and Exhibition.

Invited Keynote Speakers

Luis Lada Díaz – Keynote speaker of ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA

Luis Lada Díaz was Executive Chairman of Telefónica España and has been Academic Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering since 2006.

He holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (acronym in Spanish, UPM) and he is an “Ad Honorem” Professor of this institution.

He has been Vice-chairman of the Spanish Association of Telecommunications Engineers and consultant of companies related to the ICTs sector. In 1994, he was appointed Chairman of Telefónica Móviles España, and then, in August 2000, Executive Chairman of Telefónica Móviles, of which he is considered to be his creator.

Mr. Lada Díaz will participate as keynote speaker in the Closing Ceremony of ENGINEERING 2010 - ARGENTINA.

Interview to Dr. Ishii Yumio

Dr. ISHII Yumio is member of the International Advisory Council of ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA and a specialist in Disaster Risk Management. He also chairs the recently created Standing Committee on Disaster Risk Management of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO). In this interview, he gives his opinion about this issue and the role of infrastructure in climate change.

What is the concept of the role of infrastructure in climate change?

Since human beings appeared on the Earth, “Infrastructure” has been supporting their society, by supplying safety, convenience and environment. “Infrastructure” should consist of “Structural measures” and “Non-structural measures” as well, though hard structure is most commonly recognized. At the same time, disasters jeopardizing social safety are apt to be considered natural but we should recognize that these disasters are social. Therefore, not only direct damages to hard structures but also indirect and intangible damages to social systems should be taken into account.

Which measures should be taken?

Counter measures, both structural and non-structural, covering short- and very long-term phenomena, should be implemented, such as mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and adaptation to climate change based on the-state-of-the-art technologies. I think it is very important to highlight the roles and responsibilities of infrastructure and civil engineers in challenges posed by potential disasters caused by climate change.

In your opinion, which are the responsibilities and contribution of civil engineers as regards disaster prevention?

Civil engineers are expected to assess their projects in the past and to perform their important role of supplying safety to people and society by implementing all the hard and soft measures concerning mitigation and adaptation. Because climate change is neither domestic nor short term but global and long term, civil engineers must contribute to this issue in cooperation with foreign engineers and international organizations. Society requires three broad actions from civil engineers: 1) a more comprehensive research about global warming with more accurate prediction; 2) proposals for GHG mitigation; and 3) proposals for adaptation measures to global warming.
The role of civil engineers to fulfil these demands is not so simple as the construction of structures but their scope of works must expand to cover every phase of the development of society over the years to come. Civil engineers will positively act to fulfill their responsibility as human beings expect.

For further information: www.fujipress.jp/JDR/

Third Forum on Regional Application of Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

IN PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (CSD 18), ON 26 AND 27 NOVEMBER 2009, IN GUATEMALA

Engineer Mario Telichesvky, President of the Central Executive Committee of ENGINEERING 2010-ARGENTINA, was appointed as WFEO representative, in his position of member of its Energy Committee, to participate in the Third Forum on the Regional Application (Regional Implementation Meetings – RIMs) of Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, preparatory meeting to the eighteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CDS-18), organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Engineer Sandra Fernández, Vice-President of Chapter: Innovation in Primary Production and Agro-Alimentary Industries – IPPAI, also attended this event.

This Third Forum on Regional Application is a mandate of the CSD to the Regional Commissions of the United Nations, which have been asked to organize implementation meetings on global agreements on sustainable development. It also seeks to contribute input to the work of the CSD and reach regional consensus on the issues being discussed.

The Forum took place in Guatemala on 26 and 27 November and was chaired by the host country and the vice-presidencies were occupied by Argentina and the Dominican Republic. During the event, ECLAC representatives stated that “different manifestations and impacts of environmental damage are costs that should be internalized in the production process but are transferred to society as a whole, and that demands reacting with public policies". They also added that “environmental problems have to do with economic management and this requires urgent economic-normative measures that reflect social values and broaden public policy margins for guiding development”.

The thematic issues which were addressed by the participants include sustainable production and consumption patterns, mining, transportation, chemicals and waste management, their results, tendencies and challenges for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more information, visit the following website to download the preliminary document:
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/csd/csd_pdfs/csd-18/rims/LatinAmericaCarib-DocumentoPreliminarRIMLAC.pdf

Interview to Engineer Luciano Gronda

Engineer Gronda, president of Subchapter “Urban Settlements” of Chapter: LARGE METROPOLISES AND THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE – LMI of the World Congress and Exhibition: ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA, gives his opinion about the sustainability of large cities and social inclusion.

Which are the key issues that will be discussed in the Subchapter “Urban Settlements”?

The topics of the Subchapter on Urban Settlements of large metropolises and their infrastructure are the sustainability of large cities and the problem of social exclusion in them.

From the point of view of sustainable development, which are the necessary tools to organize urban development in large cities?

The future urban development of large cities demands the identification of those relevant features of each city, i.e. values to be preserved to sustain a successful development, and the minimization of present exogenous elements.
For example, relevant features of Buenos Aires are: cultural values (architectural heritage, its cityscape, theatrical and musical events, etc.), plenty of commercial and administrative centers and a racial integration which is quite unusual today in the large cities of the world.
Irregularities include: the increase of precarious settlements, permanent blockades of streets and avenues, crime rate, traffic congestion and pollution in all its forms (irregular trash pick-up, increase of polluting transports, visual and noise pollution, etc.).

The tools to eradicate these irregularities include, in the first place, an organic, professional and systematic planning, which should take into account the decision of the policy-makers of observing the law, in defense of public and private properties which are unduly affected. To achieve this, the roles of the several jurisdictions in the protection of the normal use of the city’s assets should be clearly defined. Secondly, the demographic asymmetry of the city should be corrected, not only in the relation North-South but also in the lack of proportion between people working in the city and living in it. In the Congress, we will have the possibility of listening to the opinions of the experts about the problems to face so as to make cities sustainable and use them to solve our specific problems.

How do you consider social inclusion in large metropolises may be achieved?

Social exclusion in large metropolises is a complex phenomenon caused by old mistakes or omissions, whose solution is difficult due to economic interests and lack of political decisions and whose magnitude is increasing because of the uncontrolled settlement in the city and of the growth of poverty.

How do you think ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA may propose solutions to the present problems of irregular settlements?

The solutions that may be proposed by the Congress ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA, will arise from the analysis of the papers submitted in response to the “Call for Papers”, which has been promoted in our country and abroad, and from the lectures of the international experts as well as from the contributions of the speakers in the different panels.

President´s Editorial

During this month, we continue working hard in order to build an event that should not be an aim but a starting point of the project of the country we, Argentine people, are all dreaming of.

I was invited to participate in the Third Forum on the Regional Application (RIMs) of Sustainable Development In Latin America and the Caribbean, a preparatory meeting to the eighteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CDS-18). In this Forum, as representatives of the Congress, we had the possibility of learning about the different thematic issues, tendencies and challenges for sustainable development that Latin America and the Caribbean will face in the following decades because it was a regional meeting. We made use of this event to introduce our Congress and to invite all those colleagues present to participate and get involved in ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA, an ideal scenario to discuss issues related to sustainable development.

We also participated in the 57th CONVENTION OF THE ARGENTINE CHAMBER OF CONSTRUCTION, in which the World Congress and Exhibition ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA was made known and strongly promoted.

In the following months, we will enhance the promotion worldwide so as to invite as many colleagues from abroad as possible, with the cooperation of WFEO and other world engineering institutions.

We are on our way. I invite you to go on working together and with enthusiasm so as to have a successful Congress. I invite all those who are reading this Newsletter for the first time to join our project. We wish you all a prosperous Year 2010.

All the best. Till next publication.

Eng. Mario Telichevsky
President of the Central Executive Committee
Engineering World Congress and Exhibition
ENGINEERING 2010 – ARGENTINA

Schedule of Activities for National Preparatory Congresses

Date	Location	Organizing Institution/s	Topic
March 25-26, 2010	Entre Ríos	FADIE	Renewable energy and Climatic Change
May 12-14, 2010	Buenos Aires	COPIME	Fire Precaution
April 16 -17, 2010	Bahía Blanca	Center of Engineers of Bahia Blanca
April 21-23	Buenos Aires	AIDIS	Sanitation and Environment
June 10 - 11 2010	Corrientes	Center of Engineers of the Province of Corrientes	Engineering Education for Engineers and Women Engineering