Pollution from forest fires affects the poor most – 09/20/2023 – Environment

The population of the poorest countries suffers disproportionately from air pollution caused by forest and field fires around the world, according to research published this Wednesday (20).

Forest, pasture and farmland fires, whether planned or uncontrolled, generate smoke that can travel thousands of kilometers, with a considerable impact on public health, including increased mortality and the worsening of heart and lung-related diseases. lungs.

Air pollution caused around 4.5 million deaths in 2019, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health last year.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature, researchers calculated global daily amounts of fine particles (known as PM2.5) and surface concentrations of ozone emitted by non-urban fires between 2000 and 2019.

Annual air pollution caused by fires in forests and fields in low-income countries is around four times greater than in rich countries. Central Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and Siberia recorded the highest levels.

This pollution could be worse in the future because of climate change, according to Shandy Li, associate professor at Monash University in Melbourne (Australia), co-author of the study.

Approximately 2.18 billion people per year, on average, were exposed to at least one day of substantial air pollution resulting from fires in forests and fields from 2010 to 2019. This is an increase of almost 7% compared to previous decade.

This includes average daily PM2.5 levels above the 2021 WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines of 15 micrograms per m³ of air, where pollution caused by fires represents at least half of the total.

Africa had the highest average number of days of exposure to “substantial” air pollution per person each year, at 32.5, followed by South America, at 23.1.

Europeans were exposed to around 1 day of substantial pollution per year, on average, throughout the decade.

The five countries with the highest annual average days of exposure per person to significant fire pollution are all African: Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon.