Paris: According to a significant new study released Thursday, fire-related air pollution is responsible for about 1.5 million deaths annually globally, with the great majority of these deaths taking place in developing nations.
According to a study published in The Lancet journal, if wildfires become more common and fierce due to climate change, this death toll is predicted to increase in the upcoming years.
The global group of experts examined the data that was already available on “landscape fires,” which encompass both planned fires like controlled burns on agricultural land and wildfires that rage through the natural world.
According to the study, between 2000 and 2019, fire-related air pollution was responsible for almost 450,000 heart disease deaths annually.
The smoke and pollutants that the fire sprayed into the air were responsible for an additional 220,000 deaths from respiratory illnesses.
According to the study, air pollution from landscape fires was linked to 1.53 million fatalities annually worldwide, out of all causes.
It further said that approximately 40% of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa alone, with over 90% occurring in low- and middle-income nations.
Nigeria, India, Indonesia, China, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had the highest mortality tolls.
The city, New Delhi, has been choked by poisonous haze lately, which has been partially attributed to a record quantity of unlawful burning of farm fields in northern India.
The Lancet study’s authors demanded “urgent action” in response to the high number of fatalities caused by landscape fires.
They said that the gap between wealthy and developing countries emphasizes “climate injustice,” which is the idea that people who have done the least to cause global warming bear the brunt of its effects.
The researchers noted that people in poorer nations do not have access to some of the strategies people can use to escape fire smoke, such as relocating, using masks and air purifiers, or staying indoors.
Therefore, they demanded that those in the most affected nations receive greater financial and technological assistance.
A week after UN climate negotiations in which delegates agreed to increase climate funding—which developing nations criticized as being insufficient—the study was made public.
Additionally, it followed Ecuador’s declaration of a national emergency due to forest fires that destroyed over 10,000 hectares in the southern region of the country. Hurricanes, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events have also pounded the globe in what is predicted to be the hottest year on record.
