Identification of new critical levels for the protection of forests against ozone pollution.

The specific objectives

• Developing an innovative system for monitoring the effects of O3 on forests in the EU, based on active rather than passive monitoring;
• Creation of a new generation permanent monitoring system for O3 effects on EU forests;
• Simultaneous monitoring of forest response indicators and O3 standards across Europe;
• Elaboration of new usable criteria and legislative standards to protect forests against O3 and to establish a long-term monitoring strategy;
• Contributing to the realization of forestry policies and the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy and to the effectiveness of policies by developing appropriate standards for effective protection of forests;
• Supporting the development of recommendations and adaptive management strategies for sustainable forest management;
• Raising the awareness of stakeholders and experts about the innovative monitoring system and the protection criteria;
• Providing open access data to be incorporated into the European Forest Data Center and the European Forest Data System;
• Realization of an EC Forestry Information System for Europe;
• Supporting future EU decision-making on air quality;
• To assess whether some regions of the EU are more exposed/vulnerable to the effects of climate change and O3;
• To allow the exchange of know-how and best practices;
• Training a generation of young scientists.

B1. Creation of the monitoring system and data collection

B2. Modeling stomatal ozone absorption

B3. Derivation of new critical levels for forest protection

B4. Mapping and future scenarios