Greenhouse Gas Emissions In India Increased By 75% In Past 10 Years Due To Stubble Burning
There has been a 75 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural residue burning across India in the past decade. Bhopal, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh had the highest emissions.
The open burning of crop residue by farmers has been for a long time blamed for the rise in air pollution levels during the winters in North India.
A new study has found that there has been a 75 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural residue burning across India in the past decade.
AFP/FILE
How big are farm fires
According to the study carried out by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh had the highest gas emissions from stubble burning.
Data published in the journal Science of the Total Environment showed that 27 per cent of the cultivated area in Punjab was burned in 2020, closely followed by Madhya Pradesh.
BCCL
The burning of rice, wheat, and maize crops accounted for 97 per cent of India's agricultural burning emissions, with rice being the largest contributor at 55 per cent.
How the study was conducted
"Crop residue burning has significant repercussions, as it releases pollutants and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, leading to severe and adverse impacts on climate, public health, and food security," said Dhanyalekshmi K Pillai, Assistant Professor at IISER Bhopal.
The study was carried out using a novel satellite technology by the team, also comprising researchers from CIMMYT and the University of Michigan.
BCCL/ FILE
The team leveraged remote sensing technology to offer precise insights into the scale of such emissions nationwide.
According to them, the novel satellite technology can facilitate the monitoring of residue burning and provide region-specific mitigation strategies and policy interventions to combat this grave environmental crisis.
Stubble burning during winters
Farmers burn some 87 million tonnes of crop residues annually to clear their fields to sow subsequent crops, surpassing the entire agricultural waste production of peers in the neighbouring countries.
AFP
While the ill effects of open burning of crop waste, including its impact on air pollution and casing health issues, are well documented, farmers say that they are forced to do it due to a lack of other, less-polluting options.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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