Ozone issue needs its own 'Kyoto'

James Randerson
guardian.co.uk,
Monday October 06 2008 13:34 BST

The world needs an international agreement like the Kyoto protocol to reduce levels of ozone pollution which harm human health and crop yields, according to a report from senior scientists.
In a report from the Royal Society, the scientists said that current regulatory approaches were failing and that the problem needed to be tackled at a UN level. Prof David Fowler who chaired the working group who produced the report said it was "a major international issue".
"The only way we are going to really solve the problem in the longer term is by having international strategies because it is a global pollutant," he said. "If we don't take action now it could be a really serious problem."
Ozone forms in the air from chemical reactions involving pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen (collectively known as NOX) and volatile organic compounds such as benzene. These are released when fossil fuels are burned in cars or power stations. The problem of ozone pollution at ground level is a separate from the issue of ozone holes in the atmosphere.
Ozone is particularly dangerous for older people and people with asthma because it affects the lungs, nose and eyes. In 2003, an estimated 1,582 people died in the UK because of ozone exposure and this number is projected to rise 51% by 2020. Ozone can also reduce the yield and affect the nutritional quality of crops including wheat, rice and soybean. In the EU an estimated €6.7 bn was lost in 2000 due to impacts on arable crops. Ozone is also a greenhouse gas.
Fowler said that the US and Europe had made great strides in reducing levels of the pollutants that lead to ozone production, but he said more needed to be done and other sources – such as developing economies and shipping – sould to be tackled. "Europe and North America have each tried to solve their ozone problem as a local problem," said Fowler, "but most of the ozone coming into Britain is coming from everywhere else on the planet."
He said that controls on pollution from international shipping are too lax. By 2020, he said that more NOX is projected to enter Europe from burning fuel in ships' engines than from all land-based sources combined.
"The crucial thing is to have a control strategy that brings everyone into the same family," he said, "There's time to do it and it is all doable and it is not a global disaster, but if you leave it the cost later will be very much greater, both in terms of human health and crops."