Dr. Hajime Akimoto, Director General,Asia Center for Air Pollution Research(ACAP)(Acid Deposition and Oxidant Research Center (ADORC)), was presented the “Award for Environmental Preservation” by the Minister of the Environment, Japan on 7 June, 2010 in recognition of his distinguished contribution to environmental preservation for many years.
Pursuing the academic research in atmospheric chemistry, Dr. Akimoto has been tackling the issues of air pollution problem in Japan and global environmental problems as a researcher. Not limited to Japan, his broad perspective and leadership as well as his research performance have been highly recognized internationally.
Dr. Akimoto has chaired the “Committee on Acid Deposition” organized by the Ministry of the Environment for many years and also contributed the establishment of technological foundation during the formulation of “Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET)”.
Serving as Director General of ACAP, currently, Dr. Akimoto is not only addressing the monitoring of acid deposition in East Asia and the tropospheric ozone problem, but also enhancing the research activity and the formulation of the technological collaboration scheme related to the Co-benefit approach, which promotes the countermeasures against global warming and air pollution in parallel.
In this way, he continues his contribution to the research in atmospheric chemistry and the challenge against regional air pollution problem in East Asia.