Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Tools for environmental impact and damage assessment
- 3 Exposure–response functions for health impacts
- 4 Impacts of air pollution on building materials
- 5 Agriculture, forests and ecosystems
- 6 Other impacts
- 7 Atmospheric dispersion of pollutants
- 8 Multimedia pathways
- 9 Monetary valuation
- 10 The costs of climate change
- 11 Uncertainty of damage costs
- 12 Key assumptions and results for cost per kg of pollutant
- 13 Results for power plants
- 14 Results for waste treatment
- 15 Results for transport
- 16 Lessons for policy makers
- Appendix A Nomenclature, symbols, units and conversion factors
- Appendix B Description of the RiskPoll software
- Appendix C Equations for multimedia model of Chapter 8
- Index
- References
5 - Agriculture, forests and ecosystems
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Tools for environmental impact and damage assessment
- 3 Exposure–response functions for health impacts
- 4 Impacts of air pollution on building materials
- 5 Agriculture, forests and ecosystems
- 6 Other impacts
- 7 Atmospheric dispersion of pollutants
- 8 Multimedia pathways
- 9 Monetary valuation
- 10 The costs of climate change
- 11 Uncertainty of damage costs
- 12 Key assumptions and results for cost per kg of pollutant
- 13 Results for power plants
- 14 Results for waste treatment
- 15 Results for transport
- 16 Lessons for policy makers
- Appendix A Nomenclature, symbols, units and conversion factors
- Appendix B Description of the RiskPoll software
- Appendix C Equations for multimedia model of Chapter 8
- Index
- References
Summary
Summary
In this chapter, we discuss the impacts of the classical air pollutants on agriculture and ecosystems; we also consider some impacts of agriculture, in particular those due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer. Exposure–response functions for agricultural impacts are established and monetary valuation of the losses is straightforward, at least for marginal changes, as described in Section 5.2. The current practice of agriculture also has significant impacts on the environment, and in Section 5.3 we estimate the damage costs due to the use of nitrogen fertilizer, followed by damage costs of pesticides in Section 5.4. By contrast with the effect of pollution on agricultural crops, most ecosystem impacts are far more difficult to quantify, and more so, to express in monetary terms. In Section 5.5.1 we explain why monetary valuation, in particular via contingent valuation, is so problematic for ecosystem impacts. Some examples of impacts are described in Section 5.5.2. In Section 5.5.3 we present an interesting cost–benefit analysis of pollution abatement, to reduce the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. This is followed in Section 5.5.4 by the estimation of ecosystem impacts and costs carried out in the NEEDS phase of ExternE. Finally, we mention an interesting assessment of the total value of ecosystem services; even though it does not enable the determination of marginal damage costs, it is a compelling reminder of the dangers of destroying our ecosystems.
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- How Much Is Clean Air Worth?Calculating the Benefits of Pollution Control, pp. 160 - 197Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014