More than 1.5 million deaths per year worldwide and this figure is expected to increase in the coming years as the climate changeclimate change makes forest fires more frequent and more intense, indicates the study published Thursday in the journal The Lancet. The international team of researchers examined existing data, both on wildfires raging in nature and on land burning practiced in agricultureagriculture 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.airair by fires.
1.53 million deaths per year linked to 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 partly responsible for the cloudcloud of apocalyptic-looking pollution, with concentrations of harmful microparticles well above international health standards, which covers the Indian capital.
Climate injustice
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 is published a week after the UN negotiations on the climateclimateduring which delegates agreed on an increase in climate finance deemed insufficient by developing countries, and after the state of national emergency declared by theEcuadorEcuadorfollowing forest fires which razed more than 10,000 hectares in the south of the country.
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