scholarly journals Fires Lit for Agriculture Boost Air Pollution in Southeast Asia

Eos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terri Cook
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Agricultural Management ◽  
Premature Deaths

Reducing fires lit for agricultural management and deforestation, which unduly affect poorer populations, could help prevent 59,000 premature deaths per year.

scholarly journals Health Impacts of Urban Bicycling in Mexico

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2300
Author(s):  
David Rojas-Rueda
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Traffic Fatalities ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
Air Pollution Exposure ◽  
Pollution Exposure

Background: Bicycling has been associated with health benefits. Local and national authorities have been promoting bicycling as a tool to improve public health and the environment. Mexico is one of the largest Latin American countries, with high levels of sedentarism and non-communicable diseases. No previous studies have estimated the health impacts of Mexico’s national bicycling scenarios. Aim: Quantify the health impacts of Mexico urban bicycling scenarios. Methodology: Quantitative Health Impact Assessment, estimating health risks and benefits of bicycling scenarios in 51,718,756 adult urban inhabitants in Mexico (between 20 and 64 years old). Five bike scenarios were created based on current bike trends in Mexico. The number of premature deaths (increased or reduced) was estimated in relation to physical activity, road traffic fatalities, and air pollution. Input data were collected from national publicly available data sources from transport, environment, health and population reports, and surveys, in addition to scientific literature. Results: We estimated that nine premature deaths are prevented each year among urban populations in Mexico on the current car-bike substitution and trip levels (1% of bike trips), with an annual health economic benefit of US $1,897,920. If Mexico achieves similar trip levels to those reported in The Netherlands (27% of bike trips), 217 premature deaths could be saved annually, with an economic impact of US $45,760,960. In all bicycling scenarios assessed in Mexico, physical activity’s health benefits outweighed the health risks related to traffic fatalities and air pollution exposure. Conclusion: The study found that bicycling promotion in Mexico would provide important health benefits. The benefits of physical activity outweigh the risk from traffic fatalities and air pollution exposure in bicyclists. At the national level, Mexico could consider using sustainable transport policies as a tool to promote public health. Specifically, the support of active transportation through bicycling and urban design improvements could encourage physical activity and its health co-benefits.

scholarly journals Assessment of co-benefits of black carbon emission reduction measures in Southeast Asia: Part 2 emission scenarios for 2030 and co-benefits on mitigation of air pollution and climate forcing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didin Agustian Permadi ◽  
Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh ◽  
Robert Vautard
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Premature Deaths

Abstract. Following Part 1 (Permadi et al., 2017a) which focuses on the preparation of emission input data and evaluation of WRF/CHIMERE performance in 2007, this paper presents Part 2 of our research detailing the quantification of co-benefits resulted in the future (2030) from black carbon (BC) emission reduction measures for Southeast Asia (SEA) countries. The business as usual (BAU2030) projected emissions from the base year of 2007 (BY2007) assuming no intervention with the linear projection of the emissions based on the past decadal activity data (Indonesia and Thailand) and the sectoral GDP growth for other countries. The RED2030 featured measures to cut down emission in major four source sectors in Indonesia and Thailand (on-road transport, residential cooking, industry, and biomass open burning) while for other countries the representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) emissions were assumed. WRF/CHIMERE simulated levels of aerosol species under BAU2030 and RED2030 for the SEA domain using the base year meteorology and 2030 boundary conditions from LMDZ/INCA. The extended aerosol optical depth module (AODEM) calculated the total columnar AOD and BC AOD assuming the internal mixing state for the two future scenarios. Health benefits were analyzed in term of the avoided number of premature deaths associated with ambient PM2.5 reduction while the climate benefits were quantified using the reduction in the BC radiative forcing under RED2030. Under BAU2030, the average number of the premature deaths per 100,000 population in the domain would increase by 30 from BY2007 while under RED2030 the premature deaths would be cut-down (avoided) by 59 from the RED2030. In 2007, the maximum annual average BC radiative forcing in SEA countries was 0.98 W m−2 which would increase to 2.0 W m−2 under BAU2030 and 1.4 W m−2 under RED2030. Substantial co-benefits on human health and BC climate forcing reduction in SEA could be resulted from the emission measures incorporated in RED2030. Future works should consider other benefits such as for the agricultural crop production, and the cost benefit analysis of the measures implementation to provide relevant information for policy making.

scholarly journals Impacts of emission changes in China from 2010 to 2017 on domestic and intercontinental air quality and health effect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqiang Zhang ◽  
Drew Shindell ◽  
Karl Seltzer ◽  
Lu Shen ◽  
Jean-Francois Lamarque ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Surface Ozone ◽  
Health Effect ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
Concentration Changes ◽  
Emission Changes ◽  
Related Mortality

Abstract. China has seen dramatic emission changes from 2010, especially after the implementation of Clean Air Action in 2013, with significant air quality and human health benefits observed. Air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and surface ozone, as well as their precursors, have long enough lifetime in the troposphere which can be easily transported downwind. So emission changes in China will not only change the regional air quality domestically, but also affect the air quality in downwind regions. In this study, we use a global chemistry transport model to simulate the influence on both domestic and foreign air quality from the emission change from 2010 to 2017 in China. By applying the health impact functions derived from epidemiology studies, we then quantify the changes in air pollution-related (including both PM2.5 and O3) mortality burdens at regional and global scales. The majority of air pollutants in China reach their peak values around 2012 and 2013. Compared with the year 2010, the population-weighted annual PM2.5 in China increases till 2011 (94.1 μg m−3), and then begins to decrease. In 2017, the population-weighted annual PM2.5 decreases by 17.6 %, compared with the values in 2010 (84.7 μg m−3). The estimated national PM2.5 concentration changes in China are comparable with previous studies using fine-resolution regional models, though our model tends to overestimate PM2.5 from 2013 to 2017 when evaluated with surface observation in China during the same periods. The emission changes in China increased the global PM2.5-related mortality burdens from 2010 to 2013, by 27,700 (95 %CI: 23,900–31, 400) deaths yr−1 in 2011, and 13, 300 (11,400–15,100) deaths yr−1 in 2013, among which at least 93 % occurred in China. The sharp emission decreases after 2013 bring significant benefits for reduced avoided premature mortality in 2017, reaching 108, 800 (92,800–124,800) deaths yr−1 globally, among which 92 % happening in China. Different trend as PM2.5, the annual maximum daily 8-hr ozone in China increased, and also the ozone-related premature deaths, ranging from 3,600 (2,700–4,300) deaths yr−1 in 2011 (75 % of global total increased premature deaths), and 8,500 (6,500–9,900) deaths yr−1 in 2017 (143 % of the global total). Downwind regions, such as South Korea, Japan, and U.S. generally see a decreased O3-related mortality burden after 2013 as a combination of increased export of ozone and decreased export of ozone precursors. In general, we conclude that the sharp emission reductions in China after 2013 bring benefits of improved air quality and reduced premature deaths associated with air pollution at global scale. The benefits are dominated by the PM2.5 decreases since the ozone is shown to actually increase with the emission decrease.

scholarly journals Greenspace availability or greenspace usability, which matters on PM2.5-related premature deaths: evidence from 360 cities in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingru Yang ◽  
Yijin Wang ◽  
Fangzheng Li ◽  
Yuge Xie ◽  
Xiaoli Wang
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Respiratory Health ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Deprivation Index ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Deprived Areas

Abstract Greenspace exposure is confirmed to reduce air pollution-related negative health impact. However, which type of greenspace exposure matters more on mitigating air pollution-related deaths and whether this effect is regionally different remain unclear. Here we show, greenspace usability exposure plays a more significant role in mitigating PM2.5-related premature deaths in 360 China cities generally speaking. By clustering 360 cities into urban-rural and Deprivation Index groups, we further find that greenspace availability and usability together work on respiratory health in rural regions, and greenspace availability matters more in very low deprived areas or urban and rural regions. Our results that increasing greenspace usability exposure is more helpful in reducing air pollution-related premature deaths may inform more effective and equitable greenspace planning policies in rapidly developing countries like China.

Decision Tree-Based Analytics for Reducing Air Pollution

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (02) ◽  
pp. 1850015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajanta Das ◽  
Anindita Desarkar
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Decision Tree ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Rule Base ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
Id3 Algorithm ◽  
Rule Sets ◽  
Term Basis ◽  
Health Organization

Air pollution indicates contaminated air which arises due to the effect of physical, biological or chemical alteration to the air in the atmosphere applicable both for indoors and outdoors. This situation arises when poisonous gases, dust or smoke enter into the atmosphere and make the surroundings vulnerable for any living beings as well as difficult for them to survive. Large numbers of premature deaths happen across the globe if exposed to these pollutants on a long-term basis as major portion of the cities have the pollution level above the threshold determined by World Health Organization (WHO). So appropriate measures need to be taken on a priority basis to reduce air pollution as well as save our planet. This paper proposes a novel air pollution reduction approach which collects source pollution data. After extraction of source data, it uses various databases (DBs) and then different decisions or classes are created. The decision tree was created with the help of Iterative Dichotomiser 3 (ID3) algorithm to implement the rule base appropriately depending on the air pollution level and a bunch of rule sets were derived from the decision tree further.

scholarly journals Assessment of emission scenarios for 2030 and impacts of black carbon emission reduction measures on air quality and radiative forcing in Southeast Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 3321-3334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didin Agustian Permadi ◽  
Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh ◽  
Robert Vautard
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Emission Reduction ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Our previously published paper (Permadi et al. 2018) focused on the preparation of emission input data and evaluation of WRF–CHIMERE performance in 2007. This paper details the impact assessment of the future (2030) black carbon (BC) emission reduction measures for Southeast Asia (SEA) countries on air quality, health and BC direct radiative forcing (DRF). The business as usual (BAU2030) projected emissions from the base year of 2007 (BY2007), assuming “no intervention” with the linear projection of the emissions based on the past activity data for Indonesia and Thailand and the sectoral GDP growth for other countries. The RED2030 featured measures to cut down emissions in major four source sectors in Indonesia and Thailand (road transport, residential cooking, industry, biomass open burning) while for other countries the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) emissions were assumed. WRF–CHIMERE simulated levels of aerosol species under BAU2030 and RED2030 for the modeling domain using the base year meteorology and 2030 boundary conditions from LMDZ-INCA. The extended aerosol optical depth module (AODEM) calculated the total columnar AOD and BC AOD for all scenarios with an assumption on the internal mixing state. Under RED2030, the health benefits were analyzed in terms of the number of avoided premature deaths associated with ambient PM2.5 reduction along with BC DRF reduction. Under BAU2030, the average number of the premature deaths per 100 000 people in the SEA domain would increase by 30 from BY2007 while under RED2030 the premature deaths would be cut down (avoided) by 63 from RED2030. In 2007, the maximum annual average BC DRF in the SEA countries was 0.98 W m−2, which would increase to 2.0 W m−2 under BAU2030 and 1.4 W m−2 under RED2030. Substantial impacts on human health and BC DRF reduction in SEA could result from the emission measures incorporated in RED2030. Future works should consider other impacts, such as for agricultural crop production, and the cost–benefit analysis of the measures' implementation to provide relevant information for policy making.

scholarly journals Assessment and economic valuation of air pollution impacts on human health over Europe and the United States as calculated by a multi-model ensemble in the framework of AQMEII3

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 5967-5989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulas Im ◽  
Jørgen Brandt ◽  
Camilla Geels ◽  
Kaj Mantzius Hansen ◽  
Jesper Heile Christensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
External Costs ◽  
Model Ensemble ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
The Us

Abstract. The impact of air pollution on human health and the associated external costs in Europe and the United States (US) for the year 2010 are modeled by a multi-model ensemble of regional models in the frame of the third phase of the Air Quality Modelling Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII3). The modeled surface concentrations of O3, CO, SO2 and PM2.5 are used as input to the Economic Valuation of Air Pollution (EVA) system to calculate the resulting health impacts and the associated external costs from each individual model. Along with a base case simulation, additional runs were performed introducing 20 % anthropogenic emission reductions both globally and regionally in Europe, North America and east Asia, as defined by the second phase of the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF-HTAP2). Health impacts estimated by using concentration inputs from different chemistry–transport models (CTMs) to the EVA system can vary up to a factor of 3 in Europe (12 models) and the United States (3 models). In Europe, the multi-model mean total number of premature deaths (acute and chronic) is calculated to be 414 000, while in the US, it is estimated to be 160 000, in agreement with previous global and regional studies. The economic valuation of these health impacts is calculated to be EUR 300 billion and 145 billion in Europe and the US, respectively. A subset of models that produce the smallest error compared to the surface observations at each time step against an all-model mean ensemble results in increase of health impacts by up to 30 % in Europe, while in the US, the optimal ensemble mean led to a decrease in the calculated health impacts by  ∼  11 %. A total of 54 000 and 27 500 premature deaths can be avoided by a 20 % reduction of global anthropogenic emissions in Europe and the US, respectively. A 20 % reduction of North American anthropogenic emissions avoids a total of  ∼  1000 premature deaths in Europe and 25 000 total premature deaths in the US. A 20 % decrease of anthropogenic emissions within the European source region avoids a total of 47 000 premature deaths in Europe. Reducing the east Asian anthropogenic emissions by 20 % avoids  ∼  2000 total premature deaths in the US. These results show that the domestic anthropogenic emissions make the largest impacts on premature deaths on a continental scale, while foreign sources make a minor contribution to adverse impacts of air pollution.

scholarly journals Aircraft measurements over Europe of an air pollution plume from Southeast Asia – aerosol and chemical characterization

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Stohl ◽  
C. Forster ◽  
H. Huntrieser ◽  
H. Mannstein ◽  
W. W. McMillan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Dispersion Model ◽  
Chemical Characterization ◽  
Anthropogenic Pollution ◽  
Zonal Flow ◽  
Particle Dispersion ◽  
Upper Troposphere ◽  
Nucleation Mode ◽  
Average Maximum

Abstract. An air pollution plume from Southern and Eastern Asia, including regions in India and China, was predicted by the FLEXPART particle dispersion model to arrive in the upper troposphere over Europe on 24–25 March 2006. According to the model, the plume was exported from Southeast Asia six days earlier, transported into the upper troposphere by a warm conveyor belt, and travelled to Europe in a fast zonal flow. This is confirmed by the retrievals of carbon monoxide (CO) from AIRS satellite measurements, which are in excellent agreement with the model results over the entire transport history. The research aircraft DLR Falcon was sent into this plume west of Spain on 24 March and over Southern Europe on 25 March. On both days, the pollution plume was found close to the predicted locations and, thus, the measurements taken allowed the first detailed characterization of the aerosol content and chemical composition of an anthropogenic pollution plume after a nearly hemispheric transport event. The mixing ratios of CO, reactive nitrogen (NOy) and ozone (O3) measured in the Asian plume were all clearly elevated over a background that was itself likely elevated by Asian emissions: CO by 17–34 ppbv on average (maximum 60 ppbv) and O3 by 2–9 ppbv (maximum 22 ppbv). Positive correlations existed between these species, and a ΔO3/ΔCO slope of 0.25 shows that ozone was formed in this plume, albeit with moderate efficiency. Nucleation mode and Aitken particles were suppressed in the Asian plume, whereas accumulation mode aerosols were strongly elevated and correlated with CO. The suppression of the nucleation mode was likely due to the large pre-existing aerosol surface of the transported larger particles. Super-micron particles, likely desert dust, were found in part of the Asian pollution plume and also in surrounding cleaner air. The aerosol light absorption coefficient was enhanced in the plume (average values for individual plume encounters 0.25–0.70 Mm−1), as was the fraction of non-volatile Aitken particles. This indicates that black carbon (BC) was an important aerosol component. During the flight on 25 March, which took place on the rear of a trough located over Europe, a mixture of Asian pollution and stratospheric air was found. Asian pollution was mixing into the lower stratosphere, and stratospheric air was mixing into the pollution plume in the troposphere. Turbulence was encountered by the aircraft in the mixing regions, where the thermal stability was low and Richardson numbers were below 0.2. The result of the mixing can clearly be seen in the trace gas data, which are following mixing lines in correlation plots. This mixing with stratospheric air is likely very typical of Asian air pollution, which is often lifted to the upper troposphere and, thus, transported in the vicinity of stratospheric air.

scholarly journals Air pollution: 6.6 million premature deaths in 2050!

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 557-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.E. van der Wall
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Premature Deaths
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