Developing countries are the most affected by this scourge. More than 1.5 million deaths worldwide are linked to air pollution caused by fires, reveals a study covering the years from 2000 to 2019 published Thursday. And this number is expected to increase in the coming years as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and more intense, says the study published in the journal The Lancet.
VideoThe “Mountain Fire”, the impressive fire that devastates California and threatens Los Angeles
The international team of researchers examined existing data, both on wildfires raging in nature and on agricultural land burning to clear fields. From 2000 to 2019, some 450,000 deaths per year from heart disease were linked to air pollution from wildfires, researchers found.
And another 220,000 deaths from respiratory illnesses could be attributed to smoke and particles released into the air from the fires. Worldwide, a total of 1.53 million deaths from all causes were associated with air pollution from fires, the study found.
More than 90% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, with almost 40% in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The countries with the highest number of deaths are China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.
A record number of illegal burning of agricultural fields in northern India is also partly responsible for the apocalyptic-looking pollution cloud. These concentrations of harmful microparticles are well above international health standards, which cover the Indian capital.
The authors of the study call for “urgent action” to address the enormous number of deaths caused by these fires, emphasizing the “climate injustice” experienced by poor countries. Additionally, ways to avoid smoke from fires – moving away from the most polluted area, using air purifiers and masks, staying indoors – are not available to people in poorer countries , emphasized the researchers.
The latter therefore call for more financial and technological support for the populations of the hardest hit countries. The study comes a week after UN climate talks, where delegates agreed to an increase in climate finance that developing countries said was insufficient.
