MOnitoring ozone injury for seTTing new critical LEvelS (LIFE MOTTLES)
Description:
Climate change and air pollution are interlinked and are a challenge for European forest management. Ground-level background Ozone (O3) is a phytotoxic air pollutant formed from photochemical reactions of its precursors such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. While O3 is a normal component of the troposphere, its background concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere have doubled since pre-industrial times, with negative effects on human and forest health. MOTTLES proposes and demonstrates an integrated approach for deriving scientifically-based thresholds and proper critical levels for forest protection against O3 in a changing climate.
Project specific objectives are:
- Develop and set up a permanent innovative monitoring system of O3 effects on EU forests, based on active monitoring rather than passive monitoring
- Monitor forest response indicators and O3 standards across Europe
- Produce new criteria and usable legislative standards for protecting forests against O3 and for establishing a long-term monitoring strategy
- Contribute to the achievement of forest policies & EU 2020 Biodiversity strategy and policy efficiency by development of proper standards for effective forest protection
- Support the elaboration of recommendations & adaptive management strategies for sustainable forest management
- Raise stakeholders’ and experts’ awareness about the innovative monitoring system and criteria of protection
- Provide open-access data for incorporation into the European Forest Data Centre and the Forest
- Support future EU air quality decision making
- Assess whether some EU regions are more exposed/vulnerable to effects of Climate Change & O3
- Allow exchanging know-how and best practices
- Form a generation of young scientists
Project information
Lead
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Italy Contact person: Elena PAOLETTI; Tel: +390555225591; Fax: +390555225666; Email: elena.paoletti@cnr.it
Partners
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics - Soil-Plant System, Italy; ACRI-HE, France; Groupe International d’Etudes des Forêts Sud-européennes, France; Institutul National de Cercetare Dezvoltare în Silvicultură ”Marin Drăcea”
Source of funding
LIFE15 ENV/IT/000183; Total budget/expenditure: 1,838,406.00 € ; European Union funding: 1,079,093.00 €
Reference information
Websites:
Published in Climate-ADAPT Jul 15 2020 - Last Modified in Climate-ADAPT Dec 12 2023