The socio-economic impacts of a climate induced lengthening of the pollen season in The Netherlands

Because of the recent increase in temperature, we have experienced a significant advance of the growing season. Since the end of the 1980's spring starts up to four weeks earlier than in the period before. The earlier start of flowering directly influences the start of the pollen season which also advanced significantly. At the same time, the end of the pollen season is not changing significantly. This conclusion is based on daily pollen counts in the Netherlands since the end of the 1960s. Therefore, the length of the pollen season is increasing. This lengthening of the pollen season is having large socio-economic implications. Medical costs for hay fever are likely to increase with millions of Euros in the coming years if the lengthening of the pollen season is increasing. In this paper a first estimation is given. The paper, furthermore, provides a number of suggestions of how the phenology and aerobiology communities should work together in informing the public.