ACID LESSONS - LRTAP IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFECTIVENESS

The article reviews current literature on LRTAP implementation and eff ectiveness, and suggests ten main 'acid answers' and lessons based on the literature so far: first, LRTAP is a high-compliance regime; secon d, important causal factors for compliance levels are found outside th e sphere of 'environmental politics'; third,'national interests' based on cost/benefit calculations can roughly predict levels of compliance ; fourth, especially in the NOx, context, domestic political factors m ust also be included in order to understand compliance levels; fifth, although LRTAP has had important arena functions, much of the reductio ns would have taken place anyway; sixth, the transboundary acidificati on problems have been reduced, but the transboundary 'solution' and ge tting below 'critical loads' in both the rural and urban environment i s a venture extending well into the next century; seventh, LRTAP's sci entific-political complex has been very valuable; eighth, provision of information has been the important LRTAP mechanism; ninth, research h as so far been mainly complementary; tenth, improving knowledge of the regime domestic interplay, including institutional access and partici pation issues as well as the EC-LRTAP interplay, is amongst the main c hallenges for further research, (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rig hts reserved.