How does air pollution change the natural balance in the ecosystem (carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles)???HELP

Question

How does air pollution change the natural balance in the ecosystem (carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles)???HELP

Answer 1

I am a green person that wants to save our planet ill tell you what i learned pollution does to the natrul balance in the ecosystem.

The sources of air pollution are many and varied, ranging from industrial, agricultural and road transport to domestic and natural sources. It is recognised that air pollution can adversely affect health, materials and vegetation. Air pollutants can travel through the atmosphere over long distances, their effects being experienced over a range of scales – local, national, continental and even hemispheric, for some pollutants. Good progress in controlling many emissions is being made. For example, UK emissions of sulphur dioxide have been cut by 80% since their peak in the 1970s, and emissions of nitrogen oxides have nearly halved since the early 1990s, bringing significant improvements in air quality.



Reducing the adverse effects on vegetation from acid and nitrogen deposition and from ground-level ozone, continues to be a major driver of international agreements on emission reductions. The EC National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD) and the UNECE Gothenburg Protocol are the two most recent agreements to curb emissions, aiming to reduce acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone. An effects-based approach to identify possible emission reduction scenarios and their costs and environmental benefits was used to inform the negotiations. The agreements set emission ceilings (upper limits) for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds, to be achieved from 2010 onwards. Notably, they are the first agreements to contain an emission target for ammonia, a pollutant mainly derived from livestock where little emission control has been required to date.



Preparations are underway for the international review of the NECD and Gothenburg Protocol in 2004/5. This will involve the assessment of what current policies are expected to deliver and what more needs to be done to minimise adverse effects of air pollution on human health and the environment. The increased understanding of the role of global air pollution, particularly contributing to increasing levels of ground-level ozone, will also have a bearing on international air pollution policy.



On the national scale, the Government's air quality policies are set out in detail in the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (AQS). The Strategy describes plans to improve and protect air quality in the UK in the medium-term, addressing the main air pollutants. The Strategy's objectives focus on achieving concentrations to avoid damage to human health. There are also two objectives aimed at achieving levels of nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide to avoid damage to vegetation. The current AQS objectives for ecosystems are met, but the problems are not solved. Defra is examining the potential to strengthen the objectives to ensure protection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, compatible with the Habitats Directive and its own Public Service Agreement.



The conservation agencies have a significant role in developing our understanding of the impact of air pollution on conservation sites, and in guiding the future development of policy on emissions. In particular, an assessment of the current status of conservation areas, with respect to damage or risks from air pollution, is urgently required. This will raise the profile and understanding of a potentially serious issue, and also help to identify targets for ecosystem protection to guide air quality policies. In addition, site management can be crucial to prevent or slow damage or to speed up recovery, particularly where sites have been polluted by years of historic deposition and are now showing signs of change. Protecting our valuable habitats from air pollution requires a combination of both management at the local level, and action to reduce emissions at a range of scales, from local to global. There is a growing need to fortify links between the conservations agencies and Defra in this area.