Respiratory illnesses, cardiac arrests… Air pollution due to fires causes 1.5 million deaths per year

“Our planet is burning…” : Jacques Chirac's famous phrase has never been so true. Not only are forest fires becoming more frequent and more intense with climate change, but the air pollution caused by their smoke is responsible for more than 1.5 million deaths each year. This is what a study published in the scientific journal says The Lancet on November 28, less than a week after the close of COP 29 on the climate, with results considered to fall well short of needs.

The researchers looked at data covering the period from 2010 to 2019, and on forest fires as well as those due to burning techniques, still used as a method of clearing and fertilization. Techniques which are used not only in certain traditional agricultures, but also or even above all to extend the areas of intensive cultivation dedicated to soya or oil palm.

Southern countries are the most affected

The results are overwhelming: 450,000 annual deaths are caused by heart diseases linked to this type of pollution. Another 220,000 per year are due to respiratory illnesses, linked to smoke and particles emitted by fires. All causes combined, scientists counted 1.53 million deaths in total over the period studied.

The overwhelming majority of these deaths, i.e. 90% (including 40% in sub-Saharan Africa alone), are located in low- or middle-income countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Nigeria are at the top of the list. list of the greatest number of victims.

But so-called emerging powers, such as China and India, also appear at the top of this gloomy ranking. Researchers highlight the fact that climate injustice doubles as social injustice, since ways to protect yourself from fire pollution – moving away from the visibly polluted area, wearing a mask, using air purifiers – remain out of reach of the majority of the population in the areas concerned.

They call for “urgent action” to increase financial and technological support for these populations. It remains to act on the underlying causes: deforestation by slash and burn, linked to intensive export agriculture, and global warming itself.