Arsenic Research and Global Sustainability Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment (As2016), June 19-23, 2016, Stockholm, Sweden

The Congress "Arsenic in the Environment" offers an international, multi- and interdisciplinary discussion platform for research and innovation aimed towards a holistic solution to the problem posed by the environmental toxin arsenic, with considerable societal impact. The congress has focused on cutting edge and breakthrough research in physical, chemical, toxicological, medical, agricultural and other specific issues on arsenic across a broader environmental realm. The Congress "Arsenic in the Environment" was first organized in Mexico City (As2006) followed by As2008 in Valencia, Spain, As2010 in Tainan, Taiwan, As2012 in Cairns, Australia and As2014 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 6th International Congress As2016 was held June 19-23, 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden and was entitled Arsenic Research and Global Sustainability. The Congress addressed the broader context of arsenic research along the following themes:Theme 1: Arsenic in Environmental Matrices and Interactions (Air, Water, Soil and Biological Matrices)Theme 2: Arsenic in Food ChainTheme 3: Arsenic and HealthTheme 4: Clean Water Technology for Control of ArsenicTheme 5: Societal issues, Policy Studies, Mitigation and Management Long term exposure to low-to-medium levels of arsenic via contaminated food and drinking water can have a serious impact on human health and globally, more than 100 million people are at risk. Since the end of the 20th century, arsenic in drinking water (mainly groundwater) has emerged as a global health concern. In the past decade, the presence of arsenic in plant foods – especially rice – has gained increasing attention. In the Nordic countries in particular, the use of water-soluble inorganic arsenic chemicals (e.g. chromated copper arsenate, CCA) as wood preservatives and the mining of sulfidic ores have been flagged as health concern. The issue has been accentuated by discoveries of naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater, primarily in the private wells, in parts of the Fennoscandian Shield and in sedimentary formations, with potentially detrimental effects on public health. Sweden has been at the forefront of research on the health effects of arsenic, technological solutions for arsenic removal, and sustainable mitigation measures for developing countries. Hosting this Congress in Sweden was also relevant because historically Sweden has been one of the leading producer of As2O3 and its emission from the smelting industries in northern Sweden and has successfully implemented actions to reduce the industrial emissions of arsenic as well as minimizing the use of materials and products containing arsenic in since 1977. The Congress has gathered professionals involved in different segments of interdisciplinary research in an open forum, and strengthened relations between academia, industry, research laboratories, government agencies and the private sector to share an optimal atmosphere for exchange of knowledge, discoveries and discussions about the problem of arsenic in the environment and catalyze the knowledge generation and innovations at a policy context to achieve the goals for post 2015 Sustainable Development.

Theme 1: Arsenic in Environmental Matrices and Interactions (Air, Water, Soil and Biological Matrices) Theme 2: Arsenic in Food Chain Theme 3: Arsenic and Health Theme 4: Clean Water Technology for Control of Arsenic Theme 5: Societal issues, Policy Studies, Mitigation and Management

Prosun Bhattacharya (1962) holds a PhD in Sedimentary Geochemistry from the University of Delhi, India (1990). He is a Professor of Groundwater Chemistry and Coordinator of the KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group, at the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He is engaged with research on groundwater contamination in sedimentary aquifers in different parts of the world, especially focusing on geogenic contaminants – arsenic and fluoride. He has collaborative research engagements with universities and research organizations in India, Bangladesh, China, Australia, Argentina, Ghana, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Tanzania, Turkey and USA. He is coordinating the prestigious Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency supported action research and implementation project "Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation-SASMIT" Community driven initiatives to target arsenic safe groundwater as sustainable mitigation strategy in Bangladesh (2007-2016). He has authored/co-authored over 300 international publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, cited more than 5600 times (Google Scholar and Google h-index 35) and i10-index 87. He has organized several international workshops on natural arsenic in groundwater and sustainable mitigation and edited 9 books on diverse aspects of natural arsenic in groundwater and groundwater for sustainable development until 2014. He is the Editor in Chief of the newly incepted Journal Groundwater for Sustainable Development published by Elsevier and the Frontiers in Environmental Sciences: Specialty Section on Groundwater Resources and Management and Associate Editor of the two reputed journals Journal of Hydrology and Environment International. Based on his global engagements in the field of arsenic research he has been honored as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in April, 2012. Since 2011, he is also responsible for Developing Nations Coordination of the IWA Specialist Group Metals and Related Substances in Drinking Water. Marie Vahter (1950) holds a PhD from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and is since 1987 Professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet . Her research concerns mainly toxic metals and human health in a wide sense; from exposure and related health effects, to the underlying toxic mechanisms and various susceptibility factors. Currently the research focuses on the health effects of early-life exposure and involves several mother-child cohorts. Professor Vahter is a highly productive (more than 300 publications and 11000 citations) and internationally recognized researcherof associations between exposure and the impact of metals on human health on a global level. She has participated in several risk assessments of toxic metals. Among other things, she has contributed to a reduction of limit values for arsenic in drinking water for the majority of countries in the world. Jerker Jarsjö (1969) has a PhD in Water Resources Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology -KTH, Stockholm (1998), and is Associate Professor of Hydrology and Hydrogeology and Deputy Head of the Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University (SU). He leads the Hydrosphere, Cryosphere and Climate research area at the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at SU, and is principal investigator of international research projects on impacts of metal and metalloid spreading in groundwater and surface water systems under the influence of climate change and other anthropogenic pressures, for instance financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), and the EU. He has 55 publications indexed in Web of Science and will in 2016 also guest edit a special issue of Environmental Earth Sciences on Sustainable Water Resources Management in Central Asia. Jurate Kumpiene (1974) is a Professor in Waste Science and Technology at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. She has been developing remediation techniques for contaminated soils, waste and groundwater, with a particular focus on trace element, including arsenic, mobilization /stabilisation in soil. Remediation methods for arsenic contaminated soil developed under the scientific leadership of Prof. Kumpiene are being applied by the waste management industry in Sweden and some of them have been patented. She has over 40 publications indexed in Web of Science and is an Associate Editor of the journal Waste Management. Prof. Kumpiene is an active participant and the Board Member (2010-2014) of the national stakeholder network "Clean Soil", a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of International Waste Working Group and the Executive Board Member of the International Society of Biogeochemists. Arslan Ahmad (1986) is a leading Research Scientist at KWR Water Cycle Research Institute of the Netherlands, with particular fo