Thick Smog in Delhi and Lahore: Is India Crop Burning to Blame?

[Riaz Haq]

Thick smog enveloping Pakistan's Punjab province has seriously disrupted road and air traffic and created significant health emergency for the people, according to Pakistani media reports. Indian cities, including the nation's capital New Delhi, are also suffering from it.

Is India Responsible?

Pakistani officials have blamed "the incursion of smoke and particle matter from the burning of crop stubble in the Indian Punjab." Particulate matter of 2.5 microns or larger as measured in micrograms per cubic meter is up to 80 times higher than the upper limit of 10 micrograms per cubic meter considered safe by the World Health Organization.

Is the Pakistani claim supported by data? Let's try and answer this question with satellite images of the area released by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Crop Burning Incidents Seen from space. Source: NASA Earth Observatory

NASA Satellite Images:

Here's how NASA's Earth Observatory described the situation last year:

"In early October 2016, Earth-observing satellites began to detect small fires in Punjab, and the number of fires increased rapidly in the following weeks. By November, thousands of fires burned across the state, and a thick pall of smoke hovered over India. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured a natural color image on November 2, 2016. The map (second image) shows the locations of the fires VIIRS also detected."

This year, 2,620 incidents of crop fire were spotted via satellite in Indian Punjab. In Pakistan, the number was limited to just 27, according to Indian media reports.  Indian reports confirm that Pakistan has done a good job of cracking down on incidents of crop burning to dramatically reduce them.

Low wind speeds of less than 2 meters per second and reversal of wind direction from east to west are causing crop burning smoke to drift from Indian Punjab toward Pakistan, according to an Indian Meteorological Department official as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Satellite Images of Smoke Over India and Pakistan. Source: NASA

South Asia's Vulnerability:

South Asia is particularly susceptible to pollutants that hang in the air for extended periods of time. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite images show dull gray haze hovering over northern India and Pakistan, and parts of Bangladesh. It is believed that emissions from solid fuel burning, industrial pollutants and farm clearing fires get trapped along the southern edge of the Himalayas. NASA Earth Observatory explains this phenomenon as follows:

"The haze visible in this image likely results from a combination of agricultural fires, urban and industrial pollution, and a regional temperature inversion. Most of the time, air higher in the atmosphere is cooler than air near the planet’s surface, and this configuration allows warm air to rise from the ground and disperse pollutants. In the wintertime, however, cold air frequently settles over northern India, trapping warmer air underneath. The temperature inversion traps pollutants along with warm air at the surface, contributing to the buildup of haze."

Trapped Smog. Source: Al Jazeera

Urgent Actions Needed: 

South Asian governments need to act to deal with rapidly rising particulate pollution jointly. Some of the steps they need to take are as follows:

1. Crack down on crop burning to clear fields.

2. Reduce the use of solid fuels such as cow dung, wood and coal to limit particulate matter released into the atmosphere.

3. Impose higher emission standards on industries and vehicles through regulations.

4. Increase forest cover by planting more trees.

5. Encourage the use of more renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, etc.

The cost of acting now may seem high but it will turn out out to be a lot more expensive to deal with extraordinary disease burdens resulting from rising air pollution.

Summary:

Movement of pollutants does not recognize national borders. It has severe consequences for both India and Pakistan.  The only way to deal with it is for the two nations to cooperate to minimize this problem.

South Asia accounts for more than a third of all PM2.5 pollution related deaths in the world. The sources of particulate pollution range from solid fuel burning to crop clearing fires and use of dirty fuels in vehicles and industries. Recognition of the growing problem is urgent. Failure to act could be very costly in terms of human health.

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[Riaz Haq]

In #Lahore, #Pakistan, #Smog Has Become a ‘Fifth Season’ PM2.5 Levels Exceed 30X "Official" Safe Limit. #LahoreSmog #DelhiSmog

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/world/asia/lahore-smog-pakistan....

While Delhi’s air quality has generated headlines worldwide in recent days, experts say the air in Lahore rivals the Indian capital’s for toxicity. The problem is not limited to the city; in 2015, according to a World Health Organization estimate, almost 60,000 Pakistanis died from the high level of fine particles in the air, one of the world’s highest death tolls from air pollution.

For years, Pakistani environmentalists have referred to November, when crop burning, higher emissions and cold weather combine to blanket Lahore and the rest of Punjab Province with acrid smog, as a “fifth season.” As in India, which Punjab borders, the problem seems to have been getting worse, and this month it has reached what many Pakistanis are calling a crisis point.

Yet there is little official data on the sources of the pollution, or on just how bad the air actually is. In announcing a new antismog policy this month, the Punjab government admitted it had “scant” air quality data, saying only that the official safety limit for PM2.5 particles, 35 micrograms per cubic meter, was “exceeded frequently.”

Naseem-ur-Rehman, a director at Punjab’s Environment Protection Department, admitted that the government had bought six air-quality monitors last year but never installed them — until last week, when a public outcry over the lack of data led to a scramble to set them up across Lahore. He said the department was “closely monitoring the situation,” but as of Thursday it was still not releasing air-quality numbers.

“This is a crisis of data,” said Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer and activist in Lahore. He said six meters were insufficient for a city the size of Lahore, let alone for all of Punjab.

In the absence of official information, some Pakistanis have taken matters into their own hands. One is Mr. Omar, who installed air monitors in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi, where he lives. He has set up Twitter accounts to post the readings in real time.

Mr. Omar was inspired by his experience living in Beijing, where the American Embassy changed the debate about pollution years ago by publishing air-quality readings on Twitter. The Chinese authorities were ultimately prompted to set up dozens of air monitoring stations in the capital and across China.



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Thirteen power plants that run on fuel oil have been shut down since last weekend, and power generation has been cut back at four others, leading to daily outages of more than 12 hours in many urban areas. At one Lahore hospital alone, more than 500 people have been arriving daily with complaints of respiratory difficulties and eye irritation.

“Lahore looks like a dystopian wasteland right now, kind of like a scene from ‘Blade Runner,’” said Adil Ghazi, a business owner.

The Punjab government says it has taken several emergency measures, including a ban on burning crops and solid waste. It says that more than 100 people have been arrested for crop burning and that hundreds of factories have been shut down for not having proper emission-control equipment. The Lahore traffic police say that they have collected more than $50,000 in fines in recent days from drivers whose vehicles did not meet emissions standards and that two centers have been set up for checking commercial vehicles for compliance.

[Riaz Haq]

22 of the top 30 most #polluted cities in the world are in #India. 18 of the world's top 20 dirtiest cities are in #India, #Pakistan or #Bangladesh, incl big cities #Lahore, #Delhi and #Dhaka, which placed 10th, 11th and 17th respectively last year.@CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/health/most-polluted-cities-india-ch...

India accounts for seven of the world's 10 cities with the worst air pollution, according to a new report, but previously smogbound Chinese cities have seen a marked improvement.

Gurugram, a suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, is the world's most polluted city, according to Greenpeace and AirVisual, which found it had an average air quality index of 135.8 in 2018 -- almost three times the level which the US Environmental Protection Agency regards as healthy.
In two months of last year, the AQI in Gurugram -- as measured by levels of fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 -- was above 200. The EPA regards this as "very unhealthy" and warns that "everyone may experience more serious health effects" if exposed.
According to the report, air pollution will cause around 7 million premature deaths globally next year and have a major economic impact.

"Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures," said Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia. "In addition to human lives lost, there's an estimated global cost of 225 billion dollars in lost labor, and trillions in medical costs. This has enormous impacts, on our health and on our wallets."
The problem is particularly pronounced in South Asia. Eighteen of the world's top 20 most polluted cities are in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, including the major population centers of Lahore, Delhi and Dhaka, which placed 10th, 11th and 17th respectively last year.
Climate change "is making the effects of air pollution worse by changing atmospheric conditions and amplifying forest fires," the report said, while noting that the key driver of global warming, burning fossil fuels, is also a major cause of dirty air.
"What is clear is that the common culprit across the globe is the burning of fossil fuels -- coal, oil and gas -- worsened by the cutting down of our forests," Sano said.
"What we need to see is our leaders thinking seriously about our health and the climate by looking at a fair transition out of fossil fuels while telling us clearly the level of our air quality, so that steps can be taken to tackle this health and climate crisis."
While South Asian countries, along with China, are the worst affected, air pollution is a global issue.
Of the 3,000 cities measured in the report, 64% exceeded the World Health Organization's annual exposure guidelines for PM2.5.
PM2.5 includes pollutants such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon, which can sneak deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system. Exposure to such particles has been linked to lung and heart disorders, and can impair cognitive and immune functions.
Every single city included in the report in the Middle East and Africa exceeded WHO guidelines for PM2.5, as did 99% of cities in South Asia, 95% in Southeast Asia, and 89% in East Asia.
"As many areas lack up-to-date public air quality information and are for this reason not represented in this report, the total number of cities exceeding the WHO PM2.5 threshold is expected to be far higher," the report warned.
One bright spot was China, once the world's poster child for urban air pollution. The report found that average concentrations of pollutants fell in Chinese cities by 12% from 2017 to 2018, while the capital Beijing has fallen out of the top 100 most polluted cities following concerted efforts to get air pollution under control.

[Riaz Haq]

#India's capital #Delhi (450) air quality #AQI worst in the world, #Pakistan's #Lahore (356) is 2nd, followed by #Dhaka (182), #Krakow (165), #Ulaanbaatar (162), #Wroclaw (158), #Guangzhou (157), #Wuhan (153), #Chongqing (152) and #Kathmandu (151). https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/any-surpr...

Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) had to declare a public health emergency and the Delhi government announced that all schools in the Capital will remain closed till November 5.

The grave situation can be understood on the basis of the 2018 global database report of WHO, which said that out of the 20 most polluted cities of the world, 14 are in India. Almost 20 lakh people in India die annually due to polluted air. Out of every four deaths due to polluted air in the world, one death is recorded in India. Delhi topped the ranking in that report too.

The major reason behind the increasing air pollution in India is that various governments have failed to work on any plans to tackle the problem permanently.

On the one hand, people are dying due to poisonous air and on the other hand the political leaders are busy in finding temporary solutions to it.

A report of airvisual.com released in 2018 identified the sources and reasons of air pollution. According to the report, the air pollutants released from industries, homes and vehicles are extremely dangerous for health. Out of all the air pollutants, the micro pollutants affect the people most.

Political statements and temporary solutions won't be able to curb increasing air pollution, rather the government should come up with some permanent solution to it.

[Riaz Haq]

Is India's crop burning polluting Pakistan's air?
By Reality Check team
BBC News

Nasa satellite data shows a heavy concentration of fires on the Indian side and far fewer on the Pakistani side of the border.

Lahore is some 20km (12 miles) from India's border, so could easily be affected by smoke from across the border.

Also, the number of fires on the Indian side this year does appear to be higher than last year, despite efforts to restrict the practice.

India's Punjab state government figures show there were 42,676 fires between 23 September and 6 November - more than during the entire season in both in 2018 and 2017.

With high levels of pollution severely affecting northern India and parts of Pakistan, a blame game has started between politicians on either side of the border.

Pakistani ministers have blamed poor air quality in cities such as Lahore on stubble burning on the Indian side of the border.

Burning takes place at this time of the year to prepare the ground for the next crop planting but the smoke is a major contributor to dangerously polluting particles in the air.

On the other side, a senior Indian politician says toxic air affecting Delhi could have come from either Pakistan or China.

How much truth is there to these claims?

What did the politicians say?

Pakistan's Minister of State for Climate Change, Zartaj Gul Wazir, tweeted an image from the US space agency Nasa, saying crop burning in India was the main source of smog in Lahore.

Image Copyright @zartajgulwazir@ZARTAJGULWAZIR

Report

Some of the replies to her tweet questioned this claim and whether it was correct to blame pollution blown across the border.

Meanwhile, a BJP politician in India, Vineet Agarwal Sharda, appeared to blame both Pakistan and China for air pollution in India, saying "poisonous air" could have been released by either country and was affecting the capital, Delhi.

Vineetagarwalsharda.com

There's a possibility that poisonous air could have been released by a neighbouring country."

Vineet Agarwal Sharda
BJP state convenor in Uttar Pradesh

It's not clear what exactly he was referring to or even if he was talking about the haze produced by stubble burning, which takes place in rural areas of Pakistan as well as in India.

How much stubble burning is there?

There's no doubt there's a large amount of stubble burning by farmers at this time of the year in the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab, as well as in Punjab province in Pakistan.

However, Nasa satellite data shows a heavy concentration of fires on the Indian side and far fewer on the Pakistani side of the border.

Lahore is some 20km (12 miles) from India's border, so could easily be affected by smoke from across the border.

Also, the number of fires on the Indian side this year does appear to be higher than last year, despite efforts to restrict the practice.

India's Punjab state government figures show there were 42,676 fires between 23 September and 6 November - more than during the entire season in both in 2018 and 2017.

What are the other factors?

The weather patterns at this time of the year play an important role in how far air pollution can travel and in which direction.

The prevailing winds flow towards the south and south-east during the stubble-burning season, after the monsoons - which would take the pollution into India rather towards Pakistan.

But one recent study, by the US Rand Corporation, says this can change from year to year, depending on prevailing wind pat....

Although it's difficult to generalise about wind direction without knowing the specific weather conditions at the time, most of the pollution from Indian crop burning after the monsoon is likely to affect Delhi more than Lahore.

And in Lahore, as in Delhi, a complex mix of things contribute to smog, including vehicle emissions, rubbish burning and industrial waste.

• Fighting air pollution in three major cities
• Where is pollution worst in Asia?
• Delhi's toxic air came from a farming revolution

A detailed report on air quality and sources of pollution in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn concluded crop burning - whether on the Indian or Pakistani side of...

It pointed out that during the month of May when major crop burning also takes place, pollution levels in Lahore remain fairly constant.

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[Riaz Haq]

In #Pakistan, a 'Happy' solution to curb crop burning takes off. The #technology could reduce air #pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 78%. #Lahore #Punjab via @csmonitor https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2020/1208/In-Pak...

A new effort by the Punjab government to tackle air pollution caused by rice stubble burning is taking off as machines – called Happy Seeders – are given to farmers at a subsidized cost. The technology could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 78%.

Air pollution is a long-standing problem in Pakistan, but every October and November contaminates in the air in Punjab province shoot up as farmers burn rice stalks left behind after harvesting to clear their fields to plant wheat.

During these cooler months, the provincial capital Lahore, which is surrounded by rice-growing districts, is covered with thick smog.

“It is a health emergency – the air quality monitors in Lahore routinely show hazardous levels in November,” said Farah Rashid, a climate and energy program coordinator for green group WWF-Pakistan.

Now the Punjab government hopes to tackle the problem by providing 500 rice farmers around Lahore with a set of machines that together eliminate the need to burn crop stubble.

The machines include a shredder that breaks down rice stubble and mulches it into the ground and a seed drill – called the Happy Seeder – that follows to sow wheat through the mulch.

“It’s a useful technology,” said farmer Aaamer Hayat Bhandara, who has used both machines at a friend’s large farm, and has pushed the government to subsidize them.

“These machines used together could really make life much easier for us farmers,” said Mr. Bhandara, from Pakpattan in Punjab province.

Malik Amin Aslam, climate change advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan, called air pollution a “silent killer” and said Lahore’s smog had increased in intensity and frequency over the last five years.

He explained that rice farmers traditionally use combine harvesters to cut their rice in October, leaving behind about four inches of stubble.

With less than two weeks before they have to ready their fields to sow wheat, burning is the fastest way to clear the land, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In Pakistan, rice is grown on an area of about 2 million hectares, mainly in the Punjab and Sindh provinces. Many of the fields are cleared by burning every year.

In October and November, Lahore’s Air Quality Index level can jump to over 300, a number that the United States Environmental Protection Agency says corresponds to a “health warning of emergency conditions.”


Farmers say the new farm equipment can help combat smog, but note that crop burning produces only a small share of the province’s pollution.

“The stubble is burned only for a few weeks in the winter. It is a fact that the problem becomes worse during this short period,” Mr. Bhandara said.

“But farmers are not the only reason for this pollution,” he added.

A 2018 report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the underlying causes of smog in Punjab noted that agriculture – mainly rice residue burning – accounts for 20% of total air pollutant emissions.

That puts it behind industry, which produces a quarter of the air pollution in the province, and transport, which contributes more than 40%.

[Riaz Haq]

#Delhi's #toxic #air is fueled by farmers burning crop stubble. But fires don't stop. Why? Answer lies in #water. But the time bomb - of depleting #groundwater - ticks on. The air might get cleaner when water runs out. But what will #India do about #food? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59808770

Think of the fields that are on fire. They get only between 500-700mm (19-27 in) of rainfall a year. Yet, many of these fields grow a dual crop of paddy and wheat. Paddy alone needs about 1,240mm (48.8 in) of rainfall each year, and so, farmers use groundwater to bridge the gap.

The northern states of Punjab and Haryana, which grow large amounts of paddy, together take out roughly 48 billion cubic metres (bcm) of groundwater a year, which is not much less than India's overall annual municipal water requirement: 56bcm. As a result, groundwater levels in these states are dropping rapidly. Punjab is expected to run out of groundwater in 20-25 years from 2019, according to an official estimate.

The burning fields is a symptom of the deteriorating relationship between India and its water.

Long ago, farmers grew crops based on locally available water. Tanks, inundation canals and forests helped smoothen the inherent variability of India's tempestuous water.

But in the late 19th Century, the land began to transform as the British wanted to secure India's north-western frontier against possible Russian incursion. They built canals connecting the rivers of Punjab, bringing water to a dry land. They cut down forests, feeding the wood to railways that could cart produce from the freshly watered fields. And they imposed a fixed tax payable in cash that made farmers eager to grow crops that could be sold easily. These changes made farmers believe that water could be shaped, irrespective of local sources - a crucial change in thinking that is biting us today.

After independence from the British in 1947, repeated droughts made the Indian government succumb to the lure of the "green revolution".

Until then, rice, a water-hungry crop, was a marginal crop in Punjab. It was grown on less than 7% of the fields. But beginning in the early 1960s, paddy cultivation was encouraged by showing farmers how to cheaply and conveniently tap into a new, seemingly-endless source of water that lay underground.

The flat power tariffs to run borewells were cheapened and finally not paid - removing any incentive to conserve water. Water did not need to be managed, farmers were taught, only extracted. In the heady first years of the revolution, fields began to churn out paddy and wheat, and India became food-secure. But after a couple of decades, the water began to sputter.

To conserve groundwater, a 2009 law forbade farmers from sowing and transplanting paddy before a pre-determined date based on the onset of the monsoon. The aim was to make the borewells run less in the peak summer months.

But the delay in paddy planting shrunk the gap between the paddy harvest and sowing of wheat. And the quickest way to clear the fields was to burn them, giving rise to the smoky plumes that add to northern India's air pollution.

So, the toxic smog is but a visible symbol of India's trainwreck of a relationship with its water.

[Riaz Haq]

Toxic #smog turns #India's capital "into a gas chamber". Farmers burning crop stubble and calmer winter winds have left a thick blanket of haze and smog to choke residents across the #Delhi capital region. #pollution #health #Modi https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-delhi-smog-haze-air-pollution-20... via @CBSNews

Authorities in India stepped up efforts on Friday to address deteriorating air quality as farmers burning crop stubble and calmer winter winds left a thick blanket of haze and smog to choke residents across the Delhi capital region. Factories, construction sites and primary schools were ordered to shut down and Delhi authorities urged people to work from home as dangerous fine particle pollution filled the air.


Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI), which measures the concentration of very fine particles know as PM2.5 in the air — particularly harmful pollutants as they're easily inhaled and can settle deep in the lungs — crossed 470 on Friday, per the state-run Central Pollution Control Board.

Anything over 300 is classed as "hazardous" on the international AQI rating system, and at "severe" levels, air pollution "affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases." On Friday, many parts of Delhi recorded an AQI of more than 600.

Authorities also restricted the operation of diesel-powered vehicles and sent out trucks equipped with water sprinklers and anti-smog guns to try to control the smog.

"We are also mulling over implementing the odd-even scheme for the running of vehicles," Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, said. That would see about half of Delhi's privately owned vehicles ordered off the roads, with odd and even-numbered license plates allowed to operate on alternating days.

Even the air quality monitors installed at the U.S. Embassy in Delhi, which sits in one of the cleanest and greenest patches in the city, registered an AQI over 360 on Friday, well into the most dire, "hazardous" level on the AQI chart displayed on the embassy's website.

Residents of the Indian capital weren't likely to see much improvement quickly, with weather conditions expected to remain calm and the seasonal crop stubble burning likely to continue.

India's Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav, on Wednesday blamed the opposition-run northern state of Punjab for failing to stop farmers burning off the remains of their harvested summer crops.

"There is no doubt over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber," Yadav said in a tweet.


Punjab's top politician, Bhagwant Mann, defended his administration, saying it only took office half a year ago and calling for a collaborative effort by state and federal authorities to address the problem.

The Delhi government is following a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to combat air pollution in the city. The stricter measures were taken Friday as the average air quality worsened to "Severe Plus," with the AQI over 450.

"It is the responsibility of all of us to take initiative at every level to stop pollution," said Delhi's state environment minister Gopal Rai earlier in the week.

[Riaz Haq]

Assessing Pakistan’s agriculture innovation system | Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) | FAO

https://www.fao.org/in-action/tropical-agriculture-platform/news/de...

A new FAO report presents the results of a 2022 assessment of the national agriculture innovation system in Pakistan, based on seven case studies covering product innovation, services innovation and digital transformation, respectively. For example, one product innovation case study described is the ‘Super Seeder’, a tractor-pulled machine used in the rice–wheat system to simultaneously slash rice stubble and sow wheat, thus reducing negative impacts of burning the rice stubble. The study was the first main activity of the TAP-AIS Pakistan project, one of nine similar country projects in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, implemented by FAO Pakistan in collaboration with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research during 2022–2024. This report profiles the structure, capacity and enabling environment of Pakistan’s agriculture innovation system and identifies major challenges and constraints; several gaps in the innovation system are highlighted:

Innovation actors’ have limited ability to initiate collaboration and engage in networking with other stakeholders, for market formation and scaling of innovation.
Collaboration was not pursued at all stages of the innovation process, that is, from innovation development to innovation scaling.
A supply-driven approach tends to be used rather than a market-driven approach. This limited potential for scaling innovations.
The scope for market formation was limited, as most initiatives were limited to innovation development and pilot implementation.
The case studies had set budgets for the innovation initiative; implementation and scaling did not continue after the budget was spent. This restricted sustainable implementation of innovations.
The assessment advised TAP-AIS Pakistan in terms of needs and priorities for organizational capacity development and policy dialogue to strengthen the innovation system for low-cost agricultural machinery, the chosen thematic focus of the project.