Journal Article

Assessing the health impacts of peatland fires: a case study for Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Hein, Lars, Uda, Saritha Kittie, Atmoko, Dwi

2019

نظرة عامة

The conversion of Indonesian tropical peatlands has been associated with the recurring problems of peatland fires and smoke affecting humans and the environment. Yet, the local government and public in the affected areas have paid little attention to the impacts and costs of the poor air quality on human health. This study aims to analyse the long-term health impacts of the peat smoke exposure to the local populations. We applied the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model to determine the smoke dispersion and the associated PM 2.5 concentrations of the resulted plumes from the fire hotspots in the deep and shallow peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, that occurred during a 5-year period (2011–2015). We subsequently quantified the long-term health impacts of PM 2.5 on the local people down to the village level based on the human health risk assessment approach. Our study shows that the average increase in the annual mean PM 2.5 concentration due to peatland fires in Central Kalimantan was 26 μg/m 3 which is more than twice the recommended value of the World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines. This increase in PM 2.5 leads to increased occurrence of a range of air pollution–related diseases and premature mortality. The number of premature mortality cases can be estimated at 648 cases per year (26 mortality cases per 100,000 population) among others due to chronic respiratory, cardiovascular and lung cancer. Our results shed further light on the long-term health impacts of peatland fires in Indonesia and the importance of sustainable peatland management.

• الناشر: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• موضوع: Air Pollutants - adverse effects / Air Pollutants - analysis / Air pollution / Air Pollution - adverse effects / Air Pollution - analysis / Air quality / Aquatic Pollution / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / Borneo / case studies / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Exposure - adverse effects / Environmental Exposure - analysis / Environmental Health / Environmental science / fate and transport models / Fires / health effects assessments / Health risk assessment / Health risks / human health / Humans / Indonesia / Indonesia - epidemiology / Local government / Local population / Lung cancer / Lung Diseases - mortality / lung neoplasms / Models, Theoretical / Mortality / Outdoor air quality / Particulate matter / Particulate Matter - analysis / particulates / Peat / Peatlands / people / Plumes / Premature mortality / Public Health / Research Article / Risk Assessment / risk assessment process / Smoke / Smoke - adverse effects / Smoke - analysis / Soil / villages / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollution Control / Wildfires