Drought impacts on children's respiratory health in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Drought conditions in Amazonia are associated with increased fire incidence, enhancing aerosol emissions with degradation in air quality. Quantifying the synergic influence of climate and human-driven environmental changes on human health is, therefore, critical for identifying climate change adaptation pathways for this vulnerable region. Here we show a significant increase (1.2%–267%) in hospitalisations for respiratory diseases in children under-five in municipalities highly exposed to drought. Aerosol was the primary driver of hospitalisations in drought affected municipalities during 2005, while human development conditions mitigated the impacts in 2010. Our results demonstrated that drought events deteriorated children's respiratory health particularly during 2005 when the drought was more geographically concentrated. This indicates that if governments act on curbing fire usage and effectively plan public health provision, as a climate change adaptation procedure, health quality would improve and public expenditure for treatment would decrease in the region during future drought events.

Effects of climate and land‐use change scenarios on fire probability during the 21st century in the Brazilian Amazon

“…However, even under the RCP 4.5 emissions scenario, the socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental dynamics modeled in the Fragmentation land-use scenario (i.e., decrease in the extension and level of conservation of the protected areas, reduced environmental laws enforcement, extensive road paving, and increased deforestation) would cause a decisive increase on fire probability in the region during the 21st century, with consequent negative impacts on biodiversity (Barlow et al, 2016), regional climate (Andreae et al, 2004), human health (do Carmo, Alves, & Hacon, 2013;Smith, Aragão, Sabel, & Nakaya, 2014), forest structure, biomass, and carbon emissions (Alencar, Nepstad, & Diaz, 2006;Anderson et al, 2015;Aragão et al, 2018;Barlow & Peres, 2004;Berenguer et al, 2014;Brando et al, 2014). However, even under the RCP 4.5 emissions scenario, the socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental dynamics modeled in the Fragmentation land-use scenario (i.e., decrease in the extension and level of conservation of the protected areas, reduced environmental laws enforcement, extensive road paving, and increased deforestation) would cause a decisive increase on fire probability in the region during the 21st century, with consequent negative impacts on biodiversity (Barlow et al, 2016), regional climate (Andreae et al, 2004), human health (do Carmo, Alves, & Hacon, 2013;Smith, Aragão, Sabel, & Nakaya, 2014), forest structure, biomass, and carbon emissions (Alencar, Nepstad, & Diaz, 2006;Anderson et al, 2015;Aragão et al, 2018;Barlow & Peres, 2004;Berenguer et al, 2014;Brando et al, 2014).…”

Impact of the 2011 Southern U.S. Drought on Ground-Level Fine Aerosol Concentration in Summertime*

“…Two hundred additional days were identified as unhealthy owing to PM 2.5 exposure during the drought years. Exposure to particles from drought-induced fire emissions is shown to significantly affect the respiratory system of children and increase hospitalization by 1.2%-267% (Smith et al 2014). The State of the Air 2014 report released by the U.S.…”

Land Use Change Impacts on Air Quality and Climate

“…184 Smoke from fires can dominate PM variability in both remote 185,186 and polluted urban regions 187 and fire PM has been linked to poor air quality and increased human mortality. 188,189 At the global scale smoke emissions from fires are estimated to result in 260 000 to 600 000 premature deaths each year. 190 Fire emissions are typically estimated using satellite data of fire occurrence or area burned combined with estimates of fuel load and laboratory emission factors.…”