GENEVA (AN) — The U.N. weather agency finds that the effects of climate change and air quality were inextricably linked last year: intense heat and persistent droughts fueled the risk of wildfires and air pollution.
People's health, nature and farmland all suffer from spiraling negative impacts of "a vicious cycle of climate change, wildfires and air pollution," the World Meteorological Organization says in new report issued Thursday.
“Climate change and air quality cannot be treated separately; they go hand-in-hand and must be tackled together," WMO's deputy chief Ko Barrett says. "Interdisciplinary science and research is key to finding solutions."
WMO's annual bulletin on air quality and climate looks at concentrations of particle pollution, such as dust, dirt, soot and smoke. Outdoors air pollution causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths a year.
Air pollution also deposits nitrogen, sulphur and ozone on the ground, affecting water, biodiversity, and carbon storage. Crop productivity is hurt in hotspots like Central Africa, China, India, Pakistan and Southeast Asia.
Experimental evidence from China and India indicates particle pollution can reduce crop yields by up to 15% in highly polluted areas, where less sunlight reaches leaf surfaces that regulate water vapor and carbon cycles, WMO says. A range of farming practices also add to air pollution.
For a solution, WMO advises planting trees and shrubs to shelter crops.
Wildfire smoke's 'noxious mix of chemicals'
From Canada to Chile and beyond, last year's "hyper-active wildfire seasons in both the northern and southern hemisphere" had many causes, such as land management, arson and accidents, and climate change.
The total area burned in Canada was a sevenfold increase from the 1990–2013 average and worsened air quality in eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S., according to the Canadian National Fire Database. The smoke traveled as far as southern Greenland and Western Europe.
Central and southern Chile's hundreds of wildfires, many intentional, caused 23 deaths, burnt forests and plantations, and widespread air pollution – prompting a state of environmental emergency in parts of central Chile.
Other aspects of the report look at concentrations of pollen, fungal spores, bacteria and other "primary biological aerosols" that affect health providers, allergy sufferers and industry; and 2) airborne particles, or bioaerosols, from vegetation, animals, and other biological sources.
“Smoke from wildfires contains a noxious mix of chemicals that affects not only air quality and health," says Lorenzo Labrador, a WMO scientific officer, "but also damages plants, ecosystems and crops – and leads to more carbon emissions and so more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."
