NATURAL VEGETATION AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES RELATED TO AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT: TROPOSPHERIC OZONE REMOVAL BY EVERGREEN AND DECIDUOUS FORESTS IN LATIUM (ITALY)

Abstract

The background concentrations of tropospheric ozone (O₃) are increasing in both industrialized and developing countries, thus posing a concrete risk to human health, natural vegetation and crops. Several papers have reported that the total O₃ flux from the atmosphere to canopy surfaces can have positive effects on air quality, and consequently to human health and wellbeing. In this work, we have estimated the role of the main natural woody vegetation classes of the CORINE Land cover Classification System in the Latium Region (Central Italy) in removing O₃ during the growing season of the year 2005. Cumulated O₃ fluxes data allowed to estimate the externality value of this ecosystem service provided by deciduous and evergreen forests in the Latium region to be around a total value of 85025821.  In the Apennine chain Province, this value should be around 57248431 $ while  in the Tyrrhenian Borderland Province 2286567 $, 22376136 $ and 3114686 $ for deciduous and evergreen forests, respectively. This corresponds, for the growing season 2005, to a total value of 85025821 $ attributable to the ecosystem service of tropospheric O₃ removal provided by the natural forests of the Latium region. Although we acknowledge the uncertainty in producing such estimate, we think our effort  as a useful first contribution addressed to the monetization of one of the ecosystem services of Italian forests at a regional level, and more in general, to open the discussion in a field that would be very useful in forest management and environmental policy-making.