MORE than half of Europe鈥檚 prime nature reserves are being poisoned by acid rain, says a report published this week by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Even recent agreements to reduce acid fallout over the continent by between 50 and 80 per cent will leave sensitive lichens, flowering plants such as the bog rosemary, and animals such as frogs facing extinction over large areas, the report says.
The worst pollution occurs in a band stretching from Liverpool to Moscow. More than 90 per cent of natural ecosystems in this area are being damaged. The risks are much lower in the Mediterranean and the Balkans, where the rain is less acid and soils are better at neutralising it.
Last year, European nations signed an agreement to cut sulphur dioxide emissions, a major cause of acid rain. The intention was to target investment where it would do most good. To achieve this, scientists drew up maps of the 鈥渃ritical loads鈥� which ecosystems could tolerate. But the author of the report, Andy Tickle of Middlesex University, claims that this will not save sensitive ecosystems.
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Sensitive species and undisturbed wildlife habitats were largely ignored, says Tickle. Instead, scientists concentrated on mapping the risk to commercial assets such as plantation forests and trout fisheries.
Governments claimed last year that current cleanup plans should protect around 80 per cent of Europe鈥檚 ecosystems from further damage from acid rain. But Tickle says Europe鈥檚 nature reserves, national parks and biosphere reserves are 鈥渄isproportionately at risk from acidification鈥�. Of 1300 protected sites analysed in his study, around 70 per cent will 鈥渞emain at risk鈥� because they are in regions where critical loads are exceeded.
Keith Bull of the British government鈥檚 Institute for Terrestrial Ecology broadly agrees with Tickle. 鈥淚n Britain, our critical road maps so far have concentrated on soil sensitivity, because that was the data we had. We plan more work on ecosystems in future. But the conservation agencies are having their funds cut. The political climate is not right for this kind of work.鈥�
鈥淢any people seem to think that acid rain is yesterday鈥檚 problem,鈥� says Merylyn McKenzie-Hedger of the World Wide Fund for Nature. 鈥淏ut we are a long way off eliminating acid rain.鈥�
Important natural areas badly affected by acid rain include the Dwingerweld in the Netherlands, the largest wet heathland in Europe; the Cairngorms in Scotland, an upland area with important moss heaths; and the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia. Promised reductions in acid emissions will offer 鈥渓ittle remission鈥� from acid damage to natural ecosystems in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Britain, says Tickle (see Diagram).
