Review of the Impacts on Air Quality and Human Health of Land-Use Changes Induced by Non-food Biomass Production

2018 ◽  
pp. 183-194
Author(s):  
Benoît Gabrielle
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Land Use Changes

scholarly journals Identification of sensitive indicators to assess the interrelationship between soil quality, management practices and human health

SOIL ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Zornoza ◽  
J. A. Acosta ◽  
F. Bastida ◽  
S. G. Domínguez ◽  
D. M. Toledo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Soil Quality Index

Abstract. Soil quality (SQ) assessment has long been a challenging issue, since soils present high variability in properties and functions. This paper aims to increase the understanding of SQ through the review of SQ assessments in different scenarios providing evidence about the interrelationship between SQ, land use and human health. There is a general consensus that there is a need to develop methods to assess and monitor SQ for assuring sustainable land use with no prejudicial effects on human health. This review points out the importance of adopting indicators of different nature (physical, chemical and biological) to achieve a holistic image of SQ. Most authors use single indicators to assess SQ and its relationship with land uses – soil organic carbon and pH being the most used indicators. The use of nitrogen and nutrient content has resulted sensitive for agricultural and forest systems, together with physical properties such as texture, bulk density, available water and aggregate stability. These physical indicators have also been widely used to assess SQ after land use changes. The use of biological indicators is less generalized, with microbial biomass and enzyme activities being the most selected indicators. Although most authors assess SQ using independent indicators, it is preferable to combine some of them into models to create a soil quality index (SQI), since it provides integrated information about soil processes and functioning. The majority of revised articles used the same methodology to establish an SQI, based on scoring and weighting of different soil indicators, selected by means of multivariate analyses. The use of multiple linear regressions has been successfully used for forest land use. Urban soil quality has been poorly assessed, with a lack of adoption of SQIs. In addition, SQ assessments where human health indicators or exposure pathways are incorporated are practically inexistent. Thus, further efforts should be carried out to establish new methodologies to assess soil quality not only in terms of sustainability, productivity and ecosystem quality but also human health. Additionally, new challenges arise with the use and integration of stable isotopic, genomic, proteomic and spectroscopic data into SQIs.

scholarly journals Medellin Air Quality Initiative (MAUI)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Yarce Botero ◽  
Olga Lucia Quintero Montoya ◽  
Santiago Lopez-Restrepo ◽  
Nicolás Pinel ◽  
Jhon Edinson Hinestroza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Pollution Assessment ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Cellular Damage

This chapter book presents Medellín Air qUality Initiative or MAUI Project; it tells a brief story of this teamwork, their scientific and technological directions. The modeling work focuses on the ecosystems and human health impact due to the exposition of several pollutants transported from long-range places and deposited. For this objective, the WRF and LOTOS-EUROS were configurated and implemented over the región of interest previously updating some input conditions like land use and orography. By other side, a spinoff initiative named SimpleSpace was also born during this time, developing, through this instrumentation branch a very compact and modular low-cost sensor to deploy in new air quality networks over the study domain. For testing this instrument and find an alternative way to measure pollutants in the vertical layers, the Helicopter In-Situ Pollution Assessment Experiment HIPAE misión was developed to take data through the overflight of a helicopter over Medellín. From the data obtained from the Simple units and other experiments in the payload, a citogenotoxicity analysis quantify the cellular damage caused by the exposition of the pollutants.

scholarly journals Impacts of near-future cultivation of biofuel feedstocks on atmospheric composition and local air quality

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 24857-24881 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ashworth ◽  
G. Folberth ◽  
C. N. Hewitt ◽  
O. Wild
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Oil Palm ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Reactive Trace Gases

Abstract. Large-scale production of feedstock crops for biofuels will lead to land-use changes. We quantify the effects of realistic land use change scenarios for biofuel feedstock production on isoprene emissions and hence atmospheric composition and chemistry using the HadGEM2 model. Two feedstocks are considered: oil palm for biodiesel in the tropics and short rotation coppice (SRC) in the mid-latitudes. In total, 69 Mha of oil palm and 92 Mha of SRC are planted, each sufficient to replace just over 1 % of projected global fossil fuel demand in 2020. Both planting scenarios result in increases in total global annual isoprene emissions of about 1 %. In each case, changes in surface concentrations of ozone and biogenic secondary organic aerosol (bSOA) are significant at the regional scale and are detectable even at a global scale with implications for air quality standards. However, the changes in tropospheric burden of ozone and the OH radical, and hence effects on global climate, are negligible. The oil palm plantations and processing plants result in global average annual mean increases in ozone and bSOA of 38 pptv and 2 ng m−3 respectively. Over SE Asia, one region of planting, increases reach over 2 ppbv and 300 ng m−3 for large parts of Borneo. Planting of SRC causes global annual mean changes of 46 pptv and 3 ng m−3. Europe experiences peak monthly mean changes of almost 0.6 ppbv and 90 ng m−3 in June and July. Large areas of Central and Eastern Europe see changes of over 1.5 ppbv and 200 ng m−3 in the summer. That such significant atmospheric impacts from low level planting scenarios are discernible globally clearly demonstrates the need to include changes in emissions of reactive trace gases such as isoprene in life cycle assessments performed on potential biofuel feedstocks.

scholarly journals Attribution of projected changes in US ozone and PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations to global changes

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 15131-15163 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Avise ◽  
J. Chen ◽  
B. Lamb ◽  
C. Wiedinmyer ◽  
A. Guenther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Southeastern Us ◽  
Regional Air Quality ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact that changes in future climate, anthropogenic US emissions, background tropospheric composition, and land-use have on regional US ozone and PM2.5 concentrations is examined through a matrix of downscaled regional air quality simulations using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Projected regional scale changes in meteorology due to climate change under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A2 scenario are derived through the downscaling of Parallel Climate Model (PCM) output with the MM5 meteorological model. Future chemical boundary conditions are obtained through downscaling of MOZART-2 (Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers, version 2.4) global chemical model simulations based on the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 emissions scenario. Projected changes in US anthropogenic emissions are estimated using the EPA Economic Growth Analysis System (EGAS), and changes in land-use are projected using data from the Community Land Model (CLM) and the Spatially Explicit Regional Growth Model (SERGOM). For July conditions, changes in chemical boundary conditions are found to have the largest impact (+5 ppbv) on average daily maximum 8-h (DM8H) ozone. Changes in US anthropogenic emissions are projected to increase average DM8H ozone by +3 ppbv. Land-use changes are projected to have a significant influence on regional air quality due to the impact these changes have on biogenic hydrocarbon emissions. When climate changes and land-use changes are considered simultaneously, the average DM8H ozone decreases due to a reduction in biogenic VOC emissions (−2.6 ppbv). Changes in average 24-h (A24-h) PM2.5 concentrations are dominated by projected changes in anthropogenic emissions (+3 μg m−3), while changes in chemical boundary conditions have a negligible effect. On average, climate change reduces A24-h PM2.5 concentrations by −0.9 μg m−3, but this reduction is more than tripled in the Southeastern US due to increased precipitation and wet deposition.

scholarly journals Response of dust emissions in southwestern North America to 21st century trends in climate, CO<sub>2</sub> fertilization, and land use: implications for air quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Loretta J. Mickley ◽  
Jed O. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
North America ◽  
Human Health ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Fine Dust ◽  
Co2 Fertilization ◽  
Dust Emissions ◽  
Dust Mobilization

Abstract. Climate models predict a shift toward warmer and drier environments in southwestern North America. The consequences of such a shift for dust mobilization and dust concentration are unknown, but they could have large implications for human health, given the connections between dust inhalation and disease. Here we link a dynamic vegetation model (LPJ-LMfire) to a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to assess the impacts of future changes in three factors – climate, CO2 fertilization, and land use practices – on vegetation in this region. From there, we investigate the impacts of changing vegetation on dust mobilization and assess the net effect on fine dust concentration (defined as dust particles less than 2.5 µm in diameter) on surface air quality. We find that surface temperatures in southwestern North America warm by 3.3 K and precipitation decreases by nearly 40 % by 2100 in the most extreme warming scenario (RCP8.5; RCP refers to Representative Concentration Pathway) in spring (March, April, and May) – the season of greatest dust emissions. Such conditions reveal an increased vulnerability to drought and vegetation die-off. Enhanced CO2 fertilization, however, offsets the modeled effects of warming temperatures and rainfall deficit on vegetation in some areas of the southwestern US. Considering all three factors in the RCP8.5 scenario, dust concentrations decrease over Arizona and New Mexico in spring by the late 21st century due to greater CO2 fertilization and a more densely vegetated environment, which inhibits dust mobilization. Along Mexico's northern border, dust concentrations increase as a result of the intensification of anthropogenic land use. In contrast, when CO2 fertilization is not considered in the RCP8.5 scenario, vegetation cover declines significantly across most of the domain by 2100, leading to widespread increases in fine dust concentrations, especially in southeastern New Mexico (up to ∼ 2.0 µg m−3 relative to the present day) and along the border between New Mexico and Mexico (up to ∼ 2.5 µg m−3). Our results have implications for human health, especially for the health of the indigenous people who make up a large percentage of the population in this region.

scholarly journals How emissions, climate, and land use change will impact mid-century air quality over the United States: a focus on effects at National Parks

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 26495-26543 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Val Martin ◽  
C. L. Heald ◽  
J.-F. Lamarque ◽  
S. Tilmes ◽  
L. K. Emmons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Us ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Epa ◽  
Surface O3

Abstract. We use a global coupled chemistry-climate-land model (CESM) to assess the integrated effect of climate, emissions and land use changes on annual surface O3 and PM2.5 on the United States with a focus on National Parks (NPs) and wilderness areas, using the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 projections. We show that, when stringent domestic emission controls are applied, air quality is predicted to improve across the US, except surface O3 over the western and central US under RCP8.5 conditions, where rising background ozone counteracts domestic emissions reductions. Under the RCP4.5, surface O3 is substantially reduced (about 5 ppb), with daily maximum 8 h averages below the primary US EPA NAAQS of 75 ppb (and even 65 ppb) in all the NPs. PM2.5 is significantly reduced in both scenarios (4 μg m−3; ~50%), with levels below the annual US EPA NAAQS of 12 μg m−3 across all the NPs; visibility is also improved (10–15 deciviews; >75 km in visibility range), although some parks over the western US (40–74% of total sites in the US) may not reach the 2050 target to restore visibility to natural conditions by 2064. We estimate that climate-driven increases in fire activity may dominate summertime PM2.5 over the western US, potentially offsetting the large PM2.5 reductions from domestic emission controls, and keeping visibility at present-day levels in many parks. Our study suggests that air quality in 2050 will be primarily controlled by anthropogenic emission patterns. However, climate and land use changes alone may lead to a substantial increase in surface O3 (2–3 ppb) with important consequences for O3 air quality and ecosystem degradation at the US NPs. Our study illustrates the need to consider the effects of changes in climate, vegetation, and fires in future air quality management and planning and emission policy making.

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