Air pollution - Why care? (Croatia)

Air quality affects the quality of life of the people and the whole ecosystem alike, so the air protection is one of the top priorities in the national environmental policies. Air pollution is generally the most important cause of damage inflicted to the forest ecosystem, while tropospheric ozone, same as the emission of particulate matter and NO₂, particularly in large agglomerations, could pose a risk for physical health of population, vegetation and ecosystems. Eutrophication caused by excessive deposition of nitrogen is also identified as one of threats to biodiversity.

Air pollution travels over great distances and across the state borders, so this problem demands an international cooperation at the highest level. Croatia works hard in the area of air quality management.

Emission of all pollutants into the air (with exception of particulate matter) is generally on decrease in Croatia, as a result of accomplishing the basic goals in air protection during the period under consideration: improvement in air quality by reduction in harmful emissions to the levels where they do not affect physical health of population and environment, and upgrading and improving the air quality monitoring systems.