Air Pollution in the European Alpine Region

The European Alps represents one of the regions in Europe with the most complex topography and highest altitudes. They house a variety of species including several endemism and are considered important retreat areas for many large carnivores and raptors due to the remote and unfragmented isolated areas from human disturbance.

Traditional farming practices are quickly disappearing and thus impacting as well the ecosystem of the region. Furthermore, due to the increase in tourism and impacts of climate change the geological risks of the territory are at exponential risk.

A serious problem arising from the cryosphere of the Alpine region lies on the melting of the glaciers which releases all the frozen pollutants and pesticides transported at higher altitudes by the atmosphere. "Glaciers are known to accumulate pollutants by acting as cold traps for organic compounds. Because of their physicochemical characteristics, contaminants can travel long distances from emission sources and condense and accumulate in snow and ice when they reach high-altitude environment." This is also a result of contaminants in rainfall which then gets stored in the ground by icing temperatures.

Due to this storing effect, pollution is drawn from low lands towards higher Alpine altitudes creating contamination both in the soil but also in the air. This pollutants come predominantly from cities and urban areas or partly from non organic agriculture or traditional practices of wood burning. All these variables are key in the assessment of air pollution level than even though they are below European Union standards, they still surpass quality objectives set out by the World Health Organisation.

A study by Diemoz et al. in 2021 is able to prove how the lockdown restrictions during COVID 19 limiting the movement of people and goods positively influenced the levels of most pollutants by up to 80% thus proving a potential future strategy for tackling Alpine pollution which is based on ecological improvements to the means of transportation and access to certain Alpine regions and nearby areas.


References:

Cristiana Rizzi, Villa Sara, Rossini Luca, Mustoni Andrea, Lencioni Valeria, (2022), Levels and ecological risk of selected organic pollutants in the high-altitude alpine cryosphere - The Adamello-Brenta Natural Park (Italy) as a case study, Environmental Advances, Volume 7

European Commission, The Alpine Region, Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/biogeog_regions/alpine/index_en.htm

Schroeder P, Belis C, Schnelle-Kreis J, Herzig R, Prevot A, Raveton M, Kirchner M, Catinon M, (2014), Why air quality in the Alps remains a matter of concern. The impact of organic pollutants in the alpine area, Environmental Science and Pollution Research 21 (1). p. 252-26

Alpine Convention (2021), 8th Report on the State of the Alps: Air Quality In The Alps - Special Edition 8,  Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention

Diémoz, Henri, Tiziana Magri, Giordano Pession, Claudia Tarricone, Ivan Karl Friedrich Tombolato, Gabriele Fasano, and Manuela Zublena, (2021), Air Quality in the Italian Northwestern Alps during Year 2020: Assessment of the COVID-19 «Lockdown Effect» from Multi-Technique Observations and Models, Atmosphere 12, no. 8: 1006


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