Ozone damage costs forestry and agriculture millions
Ozone damage inhibits forest growth in the Nordic Region by up to 10%, causing significant financial losses in the forestry sector. The harmful gas also has a negative impact on crop yields in agriculture, according to a recent Nordic-Baltic report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
- Photographer
- Johannes Jansson/norden.org
“Ozone accelerates ageing. It is an oxidising gas that shortens plant life. Active photosynthesis makes them wilt sooner. The evidence suggests that we will see greater ozone damage in the future," says Associate Professor Per Erik Karlsson of the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
Karlsson estimates that ozone damage costs Swedish agriculture and forestry approx. SEK 300 million p.a.
He and his colleagues also compared the impact of ozone in the north and south of Europe. The results show that the although the concentration of ozone is lower in the north, the damage is more or less the same because plants in the north absorbs more ozone due to the damp climate and long hours of sunshine during the summer months.
An obvious link also exists between ozone damage and climate change in that warming accelerates the build up of ozone and to plants absorbing more of the harmful gas.
The results of the project "Ozone Exposure and Impacts on Vegetation in the Nordic and Baltic countries" were published recently in Ambio - A Journal of the Human Environment.
The negative impact of global warming on the boreal forests in the north, e.g. greater ozone damage, is also on the international agenda. The Forest Day 3 event at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen stressed that the boreal forests are particularly sensitive to warming, and that this can have a long-term impact on the forests’ important function as a carbon-storage system.
Forestry questions and climate change are the theme of several projects under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers, the official body for Nordic inter-governmental co-operation. One of the biggest single projects is the environment programme studying the impact of climate change on the primary industries.
Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Contacts
Hans Skotte Møller
Phone
+45 7254 4858
Email
hsm@nst.dk
Per Erik Karlsson,
Associate Professor, Swedish Environmental Research Institute AB
Phone: 031-7256207
e-mail: pererik.karlsson@ivl.se
