Notes: stubble burning in India

Abstract

These notes were compiled for a project that was later abandoned for reasons unrelated to the project’s promise. I’m sharing here on the off chance that they might be useful to someone. I’m certainly not an expert in this subject, so the claims below should be independently verified before any significant actions are taken. India has among the worst outdoor air pollution anywhere in the world. Approximately 99.9% of the Indian population reside in areas that regularly exceed the WHO air quality guideline of 10 micrograms (µg) of PM2.5[1] per cubic meter, and almost 90% of the population live in areas that regularly exceed 35 µg per cubic meter for PM2.5. Average exposure has increased from 60 µg per cubic meter for PM2.5 in 1990 to 74 µg per cubic meter in 2015. This exposure is linked “to many adverse health effects, including diminished lung function, acute and chronic respiratory symptoms (such as asthma and cough and wheeze), and increased risk of mortality from non-communicable diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease, heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer, and from lower-respiratory infections in children and adults” (GBD MAPS Working Group, 2018: 3).[2] It’s estimated that in 2015 outdoor PM2.5 air pollution was responsible for \textasciitilde29.6 million DALYs and \textasciitilde1.09 million premature deaths (GBD MAPS Working Group, 2018: 1-3).[3] By way of comparison, it’s estimated that in 2019 malaria was responsible for \textasciitilde46.4 million DALYS and \textasciitilde643,000 premature deaths (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2020).