Necessary Integrative Approaches

The importance of land-atmosphere interactions for climate and air quality has been analysed in many studies published over the last years, with a large range of scales investigated. In this chapter, we analyse at the different scales with a systemic approach how the processes of emission, transformation, transport and deposition of air pollutants must be integrated, taking into account the effect of agricultural practices and including a focus on livestock housings which are intense point sources. Spatial interactions between pollutant sources and sinks or feedback loops within the agriculture-air system at landscape scale are described, as well as at the interface between rural and urban areas. This chapter also looks at interactions between the agriculture-air system and external forcing elements such as climate change, and the links with other environmental issues such as water quality and biodiversity.