Acid rain: the international response

Abstract

Acid rain or technically “acid deposition” has far reaching environmental, economic, political and international implications. It has been blamed for large‐scale damage to aquatic ecosystems and forests in Scandinavia, southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States. A number of other countries have expressed concern about the possible affects of acid rain on water bodies, forests, agricultural crops and material structures.

Never before has the international community been forced to contend with the conflict over a country's right to formulate its own energy and environmental policies, and the sovereign right to be free of environmental damages from the pollutant discharges from other sovereign territories. Although much has been learned about the scientific dimensions of the problem, there remain major scientific questions relating to atmospheric transport and transformation, effects on soil, vegetation and aquatic ecosystems and finally on human health itself.

Devising a cost‐efficient and effective response to acid rain involves addressing these questions. It is critical that tangible environmental benefits result from control strategies when large sums of public money are being spent.

Section 1 of this paper outlines the major scientific questions and summarizes the status of our understanding of the causes, effects and possible control efforts to address acid rain. Section 2 discusses the international dimensions of acid rain, such as, global research, international cooperative agreements and regulatory efforts to address acid rain.