Large air quality and human health impacts due to Amazon forest and vegetation fires

Abstract

Vegetation fires across the tropics emit fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to the atmosphere, degrading regional air quality and impacting human health. Extensive vegetation fires occur regularly across the Amazon basin, but there have been no detailed assessments of the impacts on air quality or human health. We used updated exposure-response relationships and a regional climate-chemistry model, evaluated against a comprehensive set of observational data, to provide the first in-depth assessment of the potential public health benefits due to fire prevention across the Amazon Basin. We focused on 2012, a year with emissions similar to the 11-year average (2008 to 2018). Vegetation fires contributed >80% of simulated dry season mean surface PM2.5 in the western Amazon region particularly in Bolivia and Brazilian states of Rondônia, Acre, and Mato Grosso. We estimate that the prevention of vegetation fires would have averted 16 800 (95UI: 16 300–17 400) premature deaths and 641 000 (95UI: 551 900–741 300) disability adjusted life years (DALYs) across South America, with 26% of the avoided health burden located within the Amazon Basin. The health benefits of fire prevention in the Amazon are comparable to those found in Equatorial Asia.

Characterizing ozone throughout the atmospheric column over the tropical Andes from in situ and remote sensing observations

“…Precisely, the biomass burning season in the Amazon runs from July to November with September being the peak month for fires (Jensen et. al., 2012;Gonzalez-Alonso et al, 2019;Butt et al, 2020). In Art.…”

How Do Brazilian Fires Affect Air Pollution and Public Health?

“…Since the adjoint model calculates population‐weighted health outcomes, the analysis emphasizes fires that contribute to smoke pollution in urban areas. Butt et al (2020), in contrast, show that the less densely populated western states of Brazil are more heavily impacted by smoke pollution, although population levels in these locations are much lower.…”

“…Emerging evidence shows that smoke pollution from fires has a deleterious effect on human health (Cascio, 2018; Liu et al, 2015; Reid et al, 2016). In South America, previous modeling studies have estimated that regional fires are responsible for thousands of premature deaths per year (Butt et al, 2020; Johnston et al, 2012; Reddington et al, 2015).…”

“…Direct comparisons with other studies are challenging. A recent study by Butt et al (2020) estimated that vegetation fires in the Amazon basin from August to October 2012 were linked to ~9,800 premature deaths in Brazil. Earlier, Reddington et al (2015) estimated that ~7,000–9,800 and ~4,200–5,200 premature deaths annually across South America and Brazil from 2002 to 2011 were due to fires in Brazil.…”

“…In addition to differences in the time period selection, spatial resolution of the atmospheric models, spatial domain, and fire emissions inventories, the studies use different concentration‐response functions to relate smoke PM 2.5 to mortality. Butt et al (2020) applied a concentration response function from the Global Exposure Mortality Model, which has higher risk estimates than the 2016 Global Burden of Disease estimates applied by Nawaz and Henze (2020). Reddington et al (2015) focused on cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer using a log‐linear concentration response function.…”