MOnitoring ozone injury for seTTing new critical LEvelS (LIFE MOTTLES)

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