Sponsored by
Pollution from North America ‘destroying wheat’
MAN-MADE air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.
The research, led by Leeds University and co-authored by York University, shows the extent of northern hemisphere crop losses caused by ozone – a chemical partly produced by fossil fuels.
The study suggests that increasing levels of air pollution from one continent may partly offset efforts to cut carbon emissions in another and says these findings have important implications for international strategies on food, climate and human health.
In a paper published in Biogeosciences, the researchers look at how ozone generated in the industrialised regions of Europe, North America and South East Asia, damages six important agricultural crops (wheat, maize, soybean, cotton, potato and rice) not only locally but also by travelling many thousands of kilometres downwind.
Of the yield losses to Europe caused by ozone, pollution originating from North America is responsible for a 1.2 million tonne annual loss of wheat. This is the biggest intercontinental ozone-related impact on any food crop.
Worldwide, the biggest impacts on both wheat and rice are from Asian pollution. But North America contributes most to worldwide losses of maize and soybean. The impact of Europe’s pollution on other continents is minor due to air flow patterns.
Michael Hollaway, a PhD student at Leeds, used a computer model to predict reductions in global surface ozone if man-made emissions of nitrogen oxide from the three continents were shut off. Using crop location and yield calculations, he and his team were able to predict impacts on staple food crops, each with their own unique sensitivity to ozone pollution.
Steve Arnold, the Leeds lecturer who oversaw the study, summed up: “The negative impacts of air pollution may have to be addressed at an international level rather than through local air quality policies alone.”
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.