Abstract
This chapter first presents an overview of findings described in this book. This includes a summary of the combined use of empirical and model-based approaches, main results of these analyses, and their relevance in view of impacts on ecosystem health, human health and effects on ecosystem services. This is followed by a discussion of the uncertainties involved in critical load assessments and applications. Finally, it presents an outlook on the future of critical loads and dynamic model applications to support assessments of trade-offs between policies in the field of air pollution, biodiversity and climate change. The importance of analysing multiple rather than single effects in these fields, including their interactions, is emphasized as the way forward for the further development and application of critical thresholds.
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COM(2011) 244 final: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/comm2006/pdf/2020/1_EN_ACT_part1_v7[1].pdf. also see http://biodiversity.europa.eu/bise/policy/eu-biodiversity-strategy.
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Hettelingh, JP., de Vries, W., Posch, M. (2015). Synthesis. In: de Vries, W., Hettelingh, JP., Posch, M. (eds) Critical Loads and Dynamic Risk Assessments. Environmental Pollution, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9508-1_26
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