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Air Quality in the Alps 1 ALPINE CONVENTION | AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE ALPS ALPINE CONVENTION 2 ALPINE CONVENTION | AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS The preparation of the eighth Report on the state of the Alps was coordinated by the French Presidency of the ad hoc expert group and the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Con- vention. The text has been drafted by the French Presidency of the ad hoc expert group, with the collaboration of its members and the Permanent Secretariat. The eighth Report on the state of the Alps, in all Alpine languages as well as in English, can be downloaded here: www.alpconv.org Coordination of ad hoc expert group Presidency Éric Vindimian, Michel Pinet (Conseil général de l’environnement et du développement du- rable, Ministère de la transition énergétique et solidaire, France — General council for En- vironment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Ecology and Inclusive Transition, France) Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention Aureliano Piva Members of the ad hoc expert group Austria Andreas Bartel, Siegmund Boehmer (Umweltbundesamt — Environment Agency Austria) Thomas Parizek, Katharina Isepp (Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie) France Hubert Holin, François Lamoise (Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire — Ministry of Ecology and Inclusive Transition) Germany Bryan Hellack (Umweltbundesamt — Federal Environment Agency) Peter Frei (Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer protection) Richard Schlachta (Regierung von Oberbayern — District Government of Upper Bavaria) Italy Cristina Leonardi (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare — Ministry for of the Environment, and for the Protection of Land and Sea) Adriana Pietrodangelo (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche — National Research Council) ALPINE CONVENTION | AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS 3 Giorgio Cattani (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale — Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) Liechtenstein Veronika Wolff (Amt für Umwelt — Office of Environment) Monaco Laure Chevallier, Astrid Claudel-Rusin (Gouvernement Princier, Principauté de Monaco — Government of the Principality of Monaco) Slovenia Jože Jurša (Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor — Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning) Rahela Žabkar (Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje - Slovenian Environmental Agency) Switzerland Matthias Rinderknecht (Bundesamt für Verkehr / Office fédéral des Transports / Federal Office of Transport) Observers of the ad hoc expert group Geneviève Borodine, Éric Fournier (Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — Auvergne-Rhône- Alpes Region) Thierry Billet, Claire Simon (Villes des Alpes de l’année — Alpine town of the year) Špela Berlot, Kristina Glojek, Matej Ogrin (Cipra) Ursula Schüpbach (ISCAR: International Scientific Committee on Research in the Alps) Consultants of the ad hoc working group Laure Malherbe, Laurence Rouïl, Morgane Salomon and Laurent Létinois (Institut national de l’environnement industriel et des risques — French institute for industrial environment and risks) Other institutions and persons that contributed to the report European Commission Susanne Lindahl, Viviane André, Andrea Bianchini, Nicola Ostertag (European Commis- sion, DG Environment), Panagiota Dilara (DG Growth) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Earth Observation Center, Oberpfaffen- hofen Michael Bittner 4 ALPINE CONVENTION | AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS Focal points of the Alpine Convention Austria Katherina Zwettler (Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Inno- vation und Technologie — Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobi- lity, Innovation and Technology) France Isabelle Paillet (Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire — Ministry of Ecology and Inclusive Transition) Germany Christian Ernstberger (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Nukleare Sicherheit — Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) Italy Paolo Angelini (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare — Ministry of the Environment and for the Protection of Land and Sea) Liechtenstein Heike Summer (Amt für Umwelt — Office of Environment) Monaco Wilfrid Deri (Département des relations extérieures et de la coopération, Principauté de Mo- naco — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Principality of Monaco) Slovenia Blanka Bartol (Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor — Ministry of Environment and Spatial Plan- ning) Switzerland Marc Pfister (Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung — Office Fédéral du Développement Terri- torial — Ufficio Federale dello Sviluppo Territoriale — Federal Office for Spatial Develop- ment) European Union (EU) Andrea Bianchini (European Commission, DG Environment) 5 ALPINE CONVENTION | AIR QUALITY IN THE ALPS TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents 5 LIST OF TABLES 8 LIST OF FIGURES 9 ABBREVIATIONS 11 Executive summary 12 1 Introduction and Objectives ........................................................................... 15 2 Ambient air quality regulatory framework ...................................................... 18 2.1 European Union Legislation .................................................................................................... 18 2.1.1 Ambient Air Quality Directives ......................................................................................... 18 2.1.2 National Emission reduction commitments Directive ....................................................... 21 2.2 national regulations in Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland ................................. 21 2.2.1 NO2 ................................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.2 Particles .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.3 Air quality planning .................................................................................................................. 23 2.4 International Conventions, Agreements and Coordination ...................................................... 23 2.4.1 UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution .................................. 23 2.4.2 WHO Guidelines ............................................................................................................. 24 2.4.3 Other UN Activities .......................................................................................................... 25 3 Description of atmoSpheric pollutants and processes in the Alps ................. 26 3.1 Meteo-climatic processes ........................................................................................................ 26 3.1.1 The meteorology of the Alps favours atmospheric pollution ............................................ 26 3.1.2 Ozone regimes ................................................................................................................ 29 3.1.3 Long-range Transport OF AIR MASSES ......................................................................... 31 3.1.4 Climate change Effect on Air quality in the Alps .............................................................. 32 3.2 Sources ................................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 Biomass burning ............................................................................................................. 34 3.2.2 Road transport ................................................................................................................ 37 3.2.3 TrAnsboundary Pollution ................................................................................................. 39 3.2.4 Sources of precursor species forming secondary aerosol ............................................... 39 4 Effects of Air Quality ...................................................................................... 43 4.1 Air pollutant effects on human heaLth: mortality ..................................................................... 43 4.2 AIR POLLUTION EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH: MORBIDITY ........................................... 44 4.3 Human health effects of air pollution in the alpine region ........................................................ 45 4.4 Effects on ecosystems ............................................................................................................ 47 5 State of the air quality in the Alps .................................................................. 49 5.1 Source of data ......................................................................................................................... 49 5.1.1 Geographical distribution: overview ................................................................................ 49 5.1.2 Geographical distribution per pollutant ............................................................................ 51 5.2 Status of concentrations .......................................................................................................... 53 5.2.1 Comparison with European Environmental objectives and WHO guidelines ................... 53 5.2.2 Comparison with national thresholds .............................................................................. 58 5.3 Analysis of Trends, correlation with mitigation strategies .......................................................
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