Acidification, ecological effects

Ecological Part (Planet). The ecological part has to do with the impact of human action on nature. Mainly this means all the known environmental problems and processes that disrupt the ecosystems (ozone depletion, acidification, greenhouse effect, destruction of species, wastes, etc.). In a sustainable world all those known problems must be minimized or avoided. In addition, for as far as possible, sustainable development must have the power to avoid new problems. The precautionary principle is therefore adopted. 

National Swedish Environmental Protection Boards Ecological Effects of Acid Deposition Report and Background papers/ Stockholm Conference on Acidification of the Environment 1982. 

The RAINS model contains three submodels to calculate the ecological effects of a given deposition pattern the Forest Soil Acidification submodel the Lake Acidification submodel and the Direct SO2 Forest Impact submodel. The Forest Soil Acidification submodel calculates, over a 1 longitude by 0.5 latitude grid over Europe, the change in pH or base saturation in forest soils with time due to a given deposition scenario. Several buffering reactions in the top 0.5 m of the soil are considered (Kauppi et aL 1990). 

The first three processes reduce the contribution to the greenhouse effect in comparison to landfilling. All these processes reduce the eutrophication and acidification potential in comparison to landfill. The overall volume of waste produced was found least in the waste incineration. In summary, from an ecological point of view and on the basis of the comparative analysis of feedstock recycling and energy recovery, APME recommends the following recovery processes ... 

The wet deposition of can be considered as a measure of acidity deposition rates. This is a value of the most important ecological concern regarding the acidification loading and effects on the ecosystems (see Chapter 4). 

The methodology for impact assessment is widely accepted and ISO standards have been established to compare and quantify the various weighing factors. The assessment consists of weighing the classes to integrate the environmental profiles such as effects on GHG emission, ozone depletion, acidification, or eutrophication. It is however unrealistic to desire unification into one environmental impact number for widely diverse ecological and economical effects. 

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