火災による大気汚染が原因の死者、年間１５０万人超 論文

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】火災による大気汚染に関係した死者は世界中で年間１５３万に上っているとする論文が２８日、英医学誌ランセットで発表された。このうち大多数は途上国で報告されたという。（写真は資料写真）
　国際的な研究チームは、山火事と、野焼きなどの農地での計画的火災を含む「景観火災」に関する既存のデータを調査した。
　２０００～２０１９年には、火災による大気汚染に関係した心疾患による死者は年間約４５万人。火災によって大気に放出された煙や微粒子に起因した呼吸器疾患による死者は２２万人だった。
　景観火災による大気汚染に関連した死者数は、合計で年間１５３万人に上ったとしている。
　このうち９０％以上は低・中所得国に集中し、４０％近くがサハラ砂漠以南のアフリカ諸国だった。また、死者数が最も多いのは中国、コンゴ民主共和国（旧ザイール）、インド、インドネシア、ナイジェリアだった。
　研究チームは、こうした格差は、富裕国に比べて温室効果ガスの排出量が少ない貧困国の方が、より被害を受ける「気候の不正義」を浮き彫りにしていると指摘。
　最も被害が大きい国々の国民に対する財政・技術的支援の強化を呼び掛けている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/11/28-19:01）

Air pollution caused by fires is linked to more than 1.5 million deaths a year worldwide, the vast majority occurring in developing countries, a major new study said on Thursday.
This death toll is expected to rise in the coming years as climate change makes wildfires more frequent and intense, according to the study in The Lancet journal.
The international team of researchers looked at existing data on landscape fires, which include both wildfires that rage through nature and planned fires such as controlled burns on farming land.
Around 450,000 deaths a year from heart disease were linked to fire-related air pollution between 2000 and 2019, the researchers said.
A further 220,000 deaths from respiratory disease were attributed to the smoke and particulates spewed into the air by fire.
From all causes around the world, a total of 1.53 million annual deaths were associated with air pollution from landscape fires, according to the study.
More than 90 percent of these deaths were in low and middle-income countries, it added, with nearly 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
The countries with the highest death tolls were China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
A record amount of illegal burning of farm fields in northern India has been partly blamed for noxious smog that has recently been choking the capital New Delhi.
The authors of the Lancet study called for urgent action to address the huge death toll from landscape fires.
The disparity between rich and poor nations further highlights climate injustice, in which those who have contributed the least to global warming suffer from it the most, they added.
Some of the ways people can avoid smoke from fires -- such as moving away from the area, using air purifiers and masks, or staying indoors -- are not available to people in poorer countries, the researchers pointed out.
So they called for more financial and technological support for people in the hardest-hit countries.
The study was released a week after UN climate talks where delegates agreed to a boost in climate funding that developing countries slammed as insufficient.
It also came after Ecuador declared a national emergency over forest fires that have razed more than 10,000 hectares in the country's south.
The world has also been battered by hurricanes, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events during what is expected to be the hottest year in recorded history.