A new report has revealed that India contributes the highest crop burning-related emissions globally, accounting for 13 percent of total global emissions for the past five years. The report exposes new comprehensions into recent trends in biomass fires, including emissions from forest and crop residue burning in the country.
It validates the downward trend in crop fires being observed between 2016 and 2019, mentioning a decline in the carbon emissions due to stubble burning by 11.39 percent in the same period. However, a rise in emissions by 12.8 percent in 2019-20, enhancing India’s overall input to 12.2 percent.
The report was released by climate tech startup Blue Sky Analytics, which is also part of the global coalition “Climate TRACE.” Climate TRACE aims to fast-track climate action by offering self-regulating high-resolution and near-real-time emissions data.
Image: Down to Earth
Abhilasha Purwar, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus and the founder and CEO of Blue Sky Analytics, said;
For effective climate action, it is essential to have an independent, system-level view of emissions. This is especially critical for sources like fires, which are rapidly increasing in frequency and scale, but whose emissions are still poorly tracked and accounted for in most multi-sector inventories.
The data from the firm includes both fires caused by human activities such as forest burning, stubble burning and wildfires, all of which produce a comprehensive picture of fire emissions.
For the report, the firm combined numerous satellite data sources for active fires documentation and characteristics with higher resolution global land cover maps. By doing so, these evaluations complement the prevailing reporting methods that depend mostly on seasonal estimates and ground measurements of the burned region.
Former US vice-president and Climate TRACE coalition convening member Al Gore, said;
For far too long, climate action has been hindered by a lack of independent, verifiable data on emissions. We are helping to create a level-playing field for everyone who wants to take an active role in reducing emissions — from government ministers and regulators to investors and business leaders to journalists and citizen activists.
This new report will help governments to map out new strategies to deal with emissions from biomass fires.
Via: The Hindu