Ozone pollution harming East Asian crops

Ozone Pollution

Ozone pollution harming East Asian crops

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• The story: Global warming is known to have been caused by many factors, more prominently by fossil fuel emissions. According to scientists, fossil fuel emissions aren’t just driving climate change and worsening air quality, they’re also hurting crop yields enough to cause some $63 billion in annual losses in East Asia.
• Key points: With high levels of ozone pollution, China, South Korea and Japan are seeing diminished yields in wheat, rice, and maize. China alone is losing a third of its potential wheat production and nearly a quarter of rice yields as ozone disrupts plant growth. That has worrying implications beyond the region, with Asia providing the majority of the world’s rice supply. East Asia is one of the biggest bread baskets and rice bowls in the world. Asia is also a hotspot for ozone, formed when sunlight interacts with greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds that are released by the burning of fossil fuels.

1. In the stratosphere, a layer of ozone protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation, but closer to Earth’s surface, ozone can harm plants and animals, including humans.
2. Scientists used ozone monitoring data to estimate the crop damage as costing roughly $63 billion.
3. Previous research on the topic has used computer simulations to assess the economic impact of ozone pollution on crops.
4. In some parts of the world, ozone pollution is comparable to or even worse for crops than the other big stressors of heat, drought, and pests.
5. Global wheat yield losses from ozone pollution totalled $24.2 billion annually between 2010 and 2012.

• Issues of concern for China: This is a concern for China, which is already worried about its declining land quality. The country has to feed a fifth of the world’s population with only 7 per cent of its farmland. As industry, energy and urban expansion have competed for limited land resources, China lost some 6 per cent of its arable land — or 7.5 million hectares – from 2009 to 2019. While Beijing has since drawn a “red line” to protect existing agricultural land, experts still anticipate the total to fall further by 2030.
• Summary: Ozone levels have declined in America and Europe over the last two decades, with the introduction of stricter air quality measures. But the pollutant is increasing in Asia. While the gases that contribute to ozone pollution are largely emitted from cities, the impact is worse in rural areas where ozone forms. Scientists said the best way to bring down ozone levels is to curb the use of fossil fuels – the same action needed to bring down greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change. Without stricter emissions controls in Asia things are going to get worse.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) What is Ozone Layer Depletion? What is good and bad ozone? Explain analytically. (2) What are the different harmful effect of Ozone layer depletion? Enumerate the measures should be taken by governments to reduce or end the depletion of Ozone layer.

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