Studies call for regional approach to tackle air pollution – Newspaper

WASHINGTON: There has been a dramatic increase in burning stubble in the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, which is causing an equally dramatic increase in air pollution throughout the region, says a report published by the US space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (Pot)

NASA collected data from October 21-29 and has also published satellite fire images, which show a large concentration of fires on the Indian side and much less on the Pakistani side of the border.

Another report from the air monitor of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India, SAFAR, says that the proportion of stubble burning in pollution in Delhi rose to 35 percent on Wednesday, the highest of the season.

A BBC The report noted that, since Lahore is about 20 km from the border with India, "it could easily be affected by smoke on the other side of the border."

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over northwestern India and northeastern Pakistan on October 10, allowing the on-board Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to acquire a true color image of several fires burning in the region. "Given the time of year and the location of the fires, these have almost certainly been established to manage the land for agriculture," NASA said.

The region has two growing seasons: from May to September and from November to April. In November, farmers plant crops such as wheat and vegetables; but before doing so, farmers often set fire to the fields to clean the stubble and prepare them for cultivation.

Statistics published by the government of the Punjab state of India show that there were 42,676 fires between September 23 and November 6, more than during the whole season, both in 2018 and 2017.

Several reports also point out that burning contributes to air pollution both within each country and across its shared border, but the intensity of the impact varies from season to season.

In autumn and early winter, the wind blows from south to southeast, which would lead to pollution to India, not Pakistan. But a recent study, conducted by the US Rand Corporation. UU., It says that this can change from one year to another, "depending on the prevailing wind patterns and the time of burning the field."

Rand Corporation notes that in the premonzon burning season, from April to May, fire activity is observed in both Indian and Pakistani Punjab. But in the burning season after the monsoon, from October to November, when pollution levels are higher, it is almost completely concentrated in the Punjab region of India.

The report suggests additional scientific analyzes to explore the complex dynamics associated with the transboundary impacts of air pollution. "New, higher resolution remote sensing datasets must be incorporated to capture the contributions of burning crop residues on smaller farms," ​​the report adds.

Another study by Liji M. David of Colorado State University and his co-author A.R. Ravishankara suggests that emissions in India are ruining air quality throughout the region.

The study notes that the subcontinent is home to 1.7 billion people, with more than one billion living in non-urban areas and air pollution in such a densely populated region could have devastating consequences.

The report warns that "more than one million Indians will die prematurely" each year from long-term exposure to ozone by 2050.

The study used a chemical transport model to estimate the ozone flow of the boundary layer and its precursors from eight regions within the subcontinent.

The study shows that the indogangetic plain and central India are important contributors of the ozone boundary layer to neighboring regions, as well as to the east (including Bangladesh) and southern India. Emissions from Pakistan also affect neighboring areas.

The study also shows that most regions in the subcontinent cannot independently control their ozone boundary layer and urges a regional approach to address this problem.

Published on Dawn, November 9, 2019