10 September 2018
CIAM Report 1/2018: The 2017 critical loads data: Differences to earlier estimates and implications for current and future ecosystems protections
This report analyses the implications of the new data on the findings derived from the earlier version compiled in 2012, which served as the basis for the policy analyses for the negotiations on the revised Gothenburg Protocol and the EU clean air policy. It is found that the 2017 updates to the critical loads databases confirm and even strengthen the key policy conclusions derived from the earlier analyses. Current levels of nitrogen deposition are a major threat to the biodiversity of European ecosystems, with even higher exceedances of the critical loads emerging from the new data. The less optimistic evaluations persist also for the baseline projections for 2030.
