This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
2 mins Read
While general awareness of worsening air quality in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) has risen in recent years, this attention has not translated into improved emission mitigation efforts from sources such as agricultural residue burning (or open burning). However, some recent work from ICIMOD is attempting to inspire improved efforts to reduce this harmful practice.
Open burning is common in the HKH and a convenient way for farmers to eliminate large quantities of crop residue. This practice also serves to prepare fields for the next crop cycle – wheat in spring and rice in summer. We find crop residue burning used widely across northern India (Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) and southern Nepal (Janakpur, Kapilvastu, and Lumbini). The predominant cropping system in this region is rice–wheat rotation.
The prevalence of open burning is partly due to the mechanization of agricultural harvesting. Combine-harvesters typically leave copious amounts of organic debris in the fields and straw stalks that are 10 inches or longer. This straw doesn’t have much value except for feeding cattle and meeting occasional cooking and heating needs. So the easier method is to burn the residue. But in the process, the burning releases an unhealthy combination of pollutants, including fine particles, and gases such as methane, ammonia, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.
Manisha Mehra, a PhD fellow in ICIMOD’s Atmosphere Initiative, has been collecting data on open burning in the Lumbini district of Nepal. According to Arnico Panday, the Atmosphere Initiative Coordinator, Mehra’s study will be the first-ever attempt to measure the composition of smoke particulate matter emitted during post-harvest burning of crop residue.
To collect her data, Mehra is using aerosol filter samplers that will be sent to labs for chemical analysis. This data is complemented by surveys about land holdings in the area, the amount of wheat produced, and farmer estimates of how much residue they use for other household purposes. With this information, Mehra will be able to estimate the quantity of carbonaceous species produced as the result of open burning. Some carbonaceous aerosols are known to have cancer-causing properties.
Mehra’s data will be used to develop a regional emission inventory on crop burning in the near future. In this way, says Dr Siva Praveen Puppala, an ICIMOD scientist co-supervising Mehra, researchers will be able to characterize the chemical composition of open burning emissions, and assess its impact on the air quality in Lumbini.
The emission data collection in Lumbini will continue into 2017. Mehra says the same methods will be used to analyze more wheat residue, and mustard residue, as well.
Share
Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.
Related Content
A team of yak value chain actors from Pakistan travelled to Lanzhou is Gansu province, China, in April 2017 to ...
A three-day regional Training of Trainers (ToT) on Community-led Micro-planning organised by the Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in ...
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Regional REDD+ Initiative organised the regional workshop ‘Measurement Reporting and Verification (MRV) ...
距人类首登世界之巅已70年,而气候紧急情况发生在此:在兴都库什-喜马拉雅区域内,三分之二的冰川预计将在本世纪末消失。 领先的山地机构国际山地综合发展中心(ICIMOD)、尼泊尔登山协会(NMA)和山区伙伴关系(Mountain Partnership) 呼吁全世界来拯救地球上的冰雪,以避免为时过晚。 #“拯救我们的雪”宣言在最初48小时内就收集到1000多个签名,其中包括新西兰前总理、各国外交官、传奇登山者和著名地球科学家。 尼泊尔加德满都讯(2023 年 5 月 29 日)——七十年前的今天,在埃德蒙·希拉里爵士和丹增·诺尔盖首次登上珠峰 ; 70 年后的今天,地球上最高的山峰正在经历由全球变暖引起的前所未有且基本不可逆的变化。 全球变暖正在危及珠峰与兴都库什-喜马拉雅地区的环境,该地区横跨八个国家,约长3500公里。根据目前的排放情况,科学家预计在未来70年内,该地区三分之二的冰川或将消融。 国际山地综合发展中心(ICIMOD)在包括 尼泊尔登山协会 和 山区伙伴关系(联合国自愿伙伴联盟)在内的全球山地机构的支持下,呼吁公众支持 #拯救我们的雪(#SaveOurSnow)运动。该运动要求公众: 在社交平台分享来自世界各地山区的故事和照片,使用#SaveOurSnow 标签 强调气候影响; 在网址 icimod.org/saveoursnow/declaration/ 签署一份宣言,呼吁各国政府兑现将升温限制在 1.5 ...
Krishna Poudel, the president of the society, chaired the programme. Welcoming guests to the programme, he highlighted the activities of ...
Process The Passu valley was once bountiful. The Khunjerab and Shimshal rivers gradually eroded their banks, posing a very real threat ...
A five-day regional hands-on training on community-based flood early warning system (CB-FEWS) was organized in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 8-12 June ...
A six-member delegation from UNICEF Nepal and Nepal Red Cross Society visited the prototype of Community-Based Flood Early Warning System (CB-FEWS) at ICIMOD Knowledge Park, ...