Air pollution from wildfires is linked to 1.5 million deaths annually

PARIS: Air pollution caused by wildfires is linked to more than 1.5 million deaths a year worldwide, the vast majority in developing countries, a major new study said on Thursday.

That death toll is expected to rise in the coming years as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and intense, according to the study in The Lancet newspaper.

The international team of researchers looked at existing data on “landscape fires”, which include both wildfires and planned fires, such as controlled burns on agricultural land.

About 450,000 deaths a year from heart disease were linked to wildfire-related air pollution between 2000 and 2019, the researchers said.

Another 220,000 deaths from respiratory disease were attributed to smoke and particulate matter spewed into the air by the fire.

Of all causes worldwide, a total of 1.53 million deaths per year are related to air pollution from landscape fires, according to the study.

More than 90% of those deaths were in low- and middle-income countries, he added, with nearly 40% in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

The countries with the highest death tolls were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.

A record amount of illegal land burning in northern India has been partly blamed for the noxious smog recently choking the capital New Delhi.

Its authors Lancet study called for “urgent action” to address the huge death toll from wildfires across the landscape.

The disparity between rich and poor nations further highlights “climate injustice”, in which those who have contributed least to global warming suffer most from it, they added.

Some of the ways people can avoid smoke from wildfires – such as moving away from the area, using air purifiers and masks, or staying indoors – are not available to people in poorer countries, the researchers said. researchers.

Thus, they called for more financial and technological support for people in the worst-affected countries.

The study was released a week after UN climate talks, where delegates agreed to boost climate finance, which developing countries have seen as insufficient.

It also came after Ecuador declared a state of emergency due to forest fires that have leveled more than 10,000 hectares in the south of the country.

The world has also been hit by hurricanes, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events during what is expected to be the hottest year on record.