Interaction Between Environmental Pollution And Land-Cover/Land-Use Change In Arctic Areas

Climate change in the Arctic is taking place within the context of a wide range of other changes and disturbances including environmental pollution. During the past two centuries climatic change in the region has been accompanied by the added complexity of anthropogenic pollutants. This chapter deals with the interactions between climate change and environmental pollution generated in the Arctic, as well as that originating from outside the region, and the effects of these interactions on changes in land cover and land use in the Arctic. The main sources of pollutants and their effects are discussed. Heavy metal, SO2 and sulphate deposition originating from non-ferrous metal smelting and mining activities in the region are the main threat to the prevailing land cover. Increasing mercury and POP pollution in the Arctic poses a considerable threat to animal life in the region, and therefore also indirectly may have long-term effects on the land cover. Environmental pollution originating from oil and gas exploration and extraction activities in the Arctic is expected to increase considerably in the Eurasian Arctic. Forest fires also cause tremendous short- and long-term changes in the land cover in the Arctic. The chapter discusses how global warming may aggravate the effects of environmental pollution on land cover, and how pollutants may amplify climatic stress.