Asian smog impact needs 5 yrs study - UN body chief
Date: 13-Aug-02
Country: INDIA
Author: Himangshu Watts
A United Nations-sponsored study says the three-km (two-mile) cloud of ash, acids, aerosols and other particles put millions at risk from drought and flooding as rainfall patterns were radically altered, with dire implications for economic growth and health.
"There will be some impact, but the extent cannot be said yet. It could be minor, negligible or it could be something very serious," Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters.
"We really haven't done all the climate modelling that is required. It is an issue of concern; no doubt about that but we need to investigate it," he said.
He said extensive research was needed to assess the extent to which the cloud could hit rainfall, water availability, agriculture and public health.
"This has to be studied in depth. It could take four to five years," said Pachauri, who is also the head of the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi.
Earlier, U.N. Environment Programme chief Klaus Toepfer told a news conference the phenomenon had global implications as the cloud could travel half way round the globe in a week.
Toepfer said the cloud was the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural wastes, dramatic increases in burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, industries and power stations and emissions from millions of inefficient cookers.
He said the U.N.'s preliminary report into what it dubbed the "Asian Brown Cloud" was a timely reminder to the upcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg that action, not words, was vital to the future of the planet.
Indian officials said they had not yet seen the report.
"Certainly this is an issue of concern but without getting details it is difficult to make any definitive statement," Central Pollution Control Board chairman Dilip Biswas told Reuters.
Biswas said South Asian countries were undertaking a study on trans-border air pollution and its impact on the region.
"This study is on for the past two years and we will incorporate whatever inputs we get from the United Nations," he said.
"The haze will definitely have an impact on developing countries more so if there are hazardous chemicals embedded in it. It may impact the weather pattern and so but we will have to wait and see."
(Additional reporting by Surojit Gupta).
