Tailored approach to fertilizer use can achieve triple-wins for smallholder farmers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AFRICAN PLANT NUTRITION INSTITUTE

 

IMAGE: SMALLHOLDER’S BENEFITED FROM THE ABILITY OF SITE-SPECIFIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT (SSNM) TO DETECT AND CORRECT LONG-STANDING NUTRIENT INPUT INADEQUACIES OR IMBALANCES. view more 

CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/WYSIATI

Recently released in the Elsevier journal, Global Food Security, a team of scientists published the first comprehensive systematic review comparing the site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) approach to farmers’ practice within smallholder cereal crop production systems in Asia and Africa.

Researchers began by gathering the cross-section of field studies needed to evaluate a range of performance indicators measuring the effectiveness of SSNM versus existing farmers’ fertilization practice. They identified 61 studies across eight countries in Asia and three countries in Africa to produce the nearly 400 direct comparisons of the two fertilizer management practices for maize, rice and wheat.

Key results drawn from the study show that SSNM generated 12% higher yield and 15% greater profitability compared to farmer practice. SSNM produced these benefits while saving an average of 18 kg N/ha, which is equivalent to a 10% reduction in the amount of N fertilizer, reducing risk of N loss to the surrounding environment.

Achieving triple-wins of high yields and profit in combination with lowering nutrient losses are not elusive or conflicting goals.

We know of no other agronomic intervention that has increased crop yield, profitability, and N use efficiency across these cereal crops and geographies in such a robust manner, explain the study’s authors. SSNM – through field-specific tailoring of fertilizer applications – is a highly effective management strategy that maximizes positive outcomes, contributing to food security attainment with economic and environmental benefits.

In the vast majority of smallholder cropping systems, fertilization consists of unbalanced nutrient application using “blanket” approaches that are not best designed to address the effects of the variability that exists within even the smallest plots of rice, wheat, or maize. Failing to adequately manage for this variability often results in the inefficient use of fertilizer by crops with poor outcomes for farmers.

The study demonstrates how the effectiveness of SSNM can vary across crops, cropping systems, crop management, and growing environments. The benefits of SSNM appear most significant where the performance of farmers’ practice is relatively poor.

Smallholder’s benefited from the ability of SSNM to detect and correct long-standing nutrient input inadequacies or imbalances. SSNM prescribed higher frequencies of N application more often, which improved plant N uptake by better targeting the growth periods when demand was highest. Examples of improved outcomes came with lower N and P application rates and higher K rates in the traditionally higher input systems in Asia. SSNM commonly raised recommendations for N, P and K in Africa. A host of regional factors related to infrastructure, supply chains, government policy, and missing or poor farm advisory systems are attributed to the numerous examples of over and under application of nutrients across the range of studies selected.

Research into SSNM produces viable strategies for smallholder cropping systems. However, widespread adoption remains a significant challenge that requires concerted efforts to scale up SSNM and reach the potentially millions of farmers who work across fragmented landscapes, and who commonly lack access to existing support systems. Researchers found it particularly difficult to gather suitable African studies to fit the criteria of the analysis, which suggest much is yet to be done to explore SSNM within the continent.

Promising innovation continues to be made towards the effective delivery of individualized recommendations through digital communication technologies, for example by a mobile phone. However, the study suggests that progress towards more widespread adoption might be less dependent on hard evidence than on governing policy interests that, for example, place more importance on fertilizer subsidies that inhibit change. More work is needed on outreach towards—and partnership amongst—stakeholders that are motivated to create more SSNM-enabling environments within the crop production chain.

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The team of researchers involved in this study represent the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Morocco; International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines; IRRI, India; Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), Cote d’Ivoire; IRRI, India; International Fertilizer Association (IFA), France.

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JOURNAL

Global Food Security

DOI

10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100570 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Co-benefits of nutrient management tailored to smallholder agriculture

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

23-Aug-2021

How much energy do we need to achieve a decent life for all?

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

 

IMAGE: THE REGIONAL AVERAGE SHARES OF POPULATION LIVING BELOW THE DECENT LIVING THRESHOLD (GAP, IN WHITE) AND THOSE WITH DECENT LIVING STANDARDS (COLOURED BAR) ARE SHOWN FOR MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS FROM 0 TO 100%. view more 

CREDIT: KIKSTRA ET AL. (2021).

For many, an increase in living standards would require an increase in energy provision. At the same time, meeting current climate goals under the Paris Agreement would benefit from lower energy use. IIASA researchers have assessed how much energy is needed to provide the global poor with a decent life and have found that this can be reconciled with efforts to meet climate targets.

In the fight to eradicate poverty around the world and achieve decent living standards (DLS), having sufficient energy is a key requirement. Despite international commitments such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in many areas progress on achieving DLS worldwide has been slow. There are also fears that improving energy access could lead to higher carbon dioxide emissions, which would interfere with goals to alleviate climate change.

In a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, IIASA researchers used a multidimensional approach to poverty to conduct a comprehensive global study on DLS. The researchers identified gaps in DLS by region and estimated how much energy is needed to fill them. They also assessed whether providing everyone with a decent life is compatible with climate goals

Studies on poverty often use an income-based definition for defining poverty thresholds ($1.90/day or $5.50/day), which obscures that there are other factors contributing to human wellbeing more directly. In contrast, DLS represent a set of material prerequisites to provide the services needed for wellbeing, such as having adequate shelter, nutrition, clean water, sanitation, cooking stoves and refrigeration, and being able to connect physically and socially via transportation and communication technologies. Crucially, this allows for calculation of the resources needed to provide these basic services.

The largest gaps in DLS were found in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 60% of the population are lacking in at least half of the DLS indicators. The researchers also identified high DLS deprivation in indicators such as sanitation and water access, access to clean cooking, and thermal comfort in South and Pacific Asia, and more moderate gaps in other regions. One of the most striking findings of the study was that the number of people deprived of basic needs according to DLS generally far exceeds the number of people in extreme poverty, meaning that current poverty thresholds are often inconsistent with a decent life.

When looking at which components of DLS require the most investment in energy, the researchers identified shelter and transport as having the largest share.

“The majority of the global population does not currently have decent levels of motorized transport. An important policy lesson for national governments is the large impact of investing in public transit to reduce the use of passenger vehicles, which generally have much higher energy use per person,” says Jarmo Kikstra, lead author of the study and a researcher in the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program.  

The upfront energy required globally to build new houses, roads, and other materials to enable DLS provision for all from 2015 to 2040 is about 12 exajoules per year. This is only a fraction of current total final energy use, which exceeds 400 exajoules per year. The increase in annual energy for operating this increase in services, including maintenance costs, is more substantial, eventually increasing by about 68 exajoules. For some countries, reaching this goal would require robust changes in development, which will be challenging, especially in the Global South.

“For most countries, especially many poor countries in Africa, unprecedented growth in energy use as well as more equitably distributed growth are essential to achieving DLS before mid-century,” Kikstra adds. “Therefore, the biggest challenge for policymakers will be to achieve an equitable distribution of energy access worldwide, which is currently still out of reach.”

According to the study, the amount of energy needed for decent living worldwide is less than half of the total final energy demand projected under most future pathways that keep temperature rise below 1.5° C. This indicates that achieving DLS for all does not have to interfere with climate goals. While this ratio changes in different climate mitigation scenarios and by region, the energy needs for DLS always remain well below the projected energy demands on the level of larger global regions.

“To achieve decent living conditions worldwide, it seems that we do not have to limit energy access to basic services as there is a surplus of total energy. What is perhaps unexpected is that even under very ambitious poverty eradication and climate mitigation scenarios, there is quite a lot of energy still available for affluence,” says study author Alessio Mastrucci.

“Our results support the view that on a global scale, energy for eradicating poverty does not pose a threat for mitigating climate change. However, to provide everyone with a decent life, energy redistribution across the world and unprecedented final energy growth in many poor countries is required,” concludes study author, Jihoon Min.

Reference

Kikstra, J.S., Mastrucci, A., Min J., Riahi, K., Rao, N.D. (2021). Decent living gaps and energy needs around the world. Environmental Research Letters DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac1c27

 

Contacts:

Researcher contact

Jarmo Kikstra
Research Scholar
Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group
Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group
IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Tel: +43(0) 2236 807 372
kikstra@iiasa.ac.at

Press Officer

Ansa Heyl
IIASA Press Office
Tel: +43 2236 807 574
Mob: +43 676 83 807 574
heyl@iiasa.ac.at

About IIASA:

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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JOURNAL

Environmental Research Letters

DOI

10.1088/1748-9326/ac1c27 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Decent living gaps and energy needs around the world.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Sep-2021

SEE TECHNOCRACY ENERGY CREDITS

Energy – Technocracy Inc. – Official Site

Anarcho - Technocracy. The Politics of Things (1953) by Harry Ho…

takver.com/history/hooton_tech.htm



 

Research aims to prevent deadly environmental disasters involving mine waste

 NEWS RELEASE 2-SEP-2021

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

New research will help mining companies better understand the negative societal and environmental impacts of mine-waste disasters, known as tailings flows, and hopefully avoid them. 

Researchers created a database as part of a study that presents the first global picture of the occurrence rates, behaviours and physical impacts of tailings flows, which are rapid downstream movements of mine waste following failures of tailings dams. 

The study, led by the University of Waterloo, involves researchers in three provinces and reports detailed information on 63 tailings flows that have occurred worldwide since 1928. Catastrophic tailings flows have happened once every two to three years on average since 1965, causing death, long-lasting environmental contamination and severe infrastructure damage over distances that can span tens of kilometres. Hazardous weather and inadequate drainage systems have been the most frequent triggers for tailings flow since 1996. 

"Despite the strict engineering requirements, tailings dams can fail, sometimes catastrophically, so our research raises awareness of the potential downstream effects for public safety purposes," said Nahyan Rana, a PhD student of earth and environmental sciences at Waterloo, and lead researcher on this project. "This study is especially relevant when we consider the global rise in mining activity."

The database will help mining engineers compare the conditions before previous incidents to those of existing sites. The researchers used satellite imagery to map dozens of cases of tailings flow and make the case to support more assessments of these dams. 

By analyzing the satellite imagery and historical data, the researchers found that the behaviour of tailings flows primarily depends on a high ratio of water to solids in the tailings and the nature of the downstream terrain. Having excess stored water increases the fluidity of released tailings. 

Some tailings flows have attained maximum speeds of 100 kilometres per hour when travelling along semi-dry, narrow channels. The result is mass casualties and the destruction of communities and the natural environment. Some tailings flows have occurred along active rivers, leading to slower speeds but longer travel distances exceeding 10 kilometres. Tailings flows on near-flat terrains have travelled shorter distances but caused widespread flooding with maximum speeds of 22 to 50 kilometres per hour. 

"Since 2014, there have been three high-profile events – two in Brazil and one right here in Canada," said Stephen Evans, a professor of geological engineering and co-author of this study. "While much progress has been made in terms of regulation and oversight, studying past tailings flows enables better prediction of what could happen should a major tailings dam failure occur."

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The study, Catastrophic mass flows resulting from tailings impoundment failures, was recently published in the journal Engineering Geology. The database, A Comprehensive Global Database of Tailings Flows, can be accessed through Scholars Portal Dataverse. 

This research is part of the CanBreach project, an NSERC-funded collaborative endeavour involving the University of British Columbia, Queen's University and five industrial partners - Klohn Crippen Berger, Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, BGC Engineering and Golder Associates. 

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JOURNAL

Engineering Geology

Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

Indigenous and local communities key to successful nature conservation

Indigenous Peoples and local communities provide the best long-term outcomes for conservation, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and partners in France.

Lead author, Dr Neil Dawson of UEA’s School of International Development, was part of an international team conducting a systematic review that found conservation success is “the exception rather than the rule”.

But the study, published today in the journal Ecology and Society, suggests the answer could be equitable conservation, which empowers and supports the environmental stewardship of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The research team studied the outcomes of 169 conservation projects around the world – primarily across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

From restoring national forests in Taiwan and community gardens in Nepal, to watershed restoration in the Congo, sustainable fisheries in Norway, game management in Zambia, and preserving wetlands in Ghana – the team took into account a range of projects.

They investigated how governance - the arrangements and decision making behind conservation efforts - affects both nature and the well-being of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The work, which is part of the JustConservation research project funded by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) within its Centre for Biodiversity Synthesis and Analysis (CESAB), and was initiated through the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN CEESP).

It is the result of collaboration between 17 scientists, including researchers from the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) at the Catholic University of Lille and UEA.

Dr Dawson, a Research Fellow, examines poverty, wellbeing and environmental justice among rural populations, particularly poor and marginalised social and ethnic groups, and is a Steering Committee member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN CEESP).

Dr Dawson said: “This study shows it is time to focus on who conserves nature and how, instead of what percentage of the Earth to fence off.” 

“Conservation led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, based on their own knowledge and tenure systems, is far more likely to deliver positive outcomes for nature. In fact, conservation very often fails because it excludes and undervalues local knowledge and this often infringes on rights and cultural diversity along the way.”

International conservation organisations and governments often lead the charge on conservation projects, excluding or controlling local practices, most prominently through strict protected areas.

The study recommends Indigenous Peoples and local communities need to be at the helm of conservation efforts, with appropriate support from outside, including policies and laws that recognise their knowledge systems.”

Furthermore, it is imperative to shift to this approach without delay, Dr Dawson said.

“Current policy negotiations, especially the forthcoming UN climate and biodiversity summits, must embrace and be accountable for ensuring the central role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in mainstream climate and conservation programs. Otherwise, they will likely set in stone another decade of well-meaning practices that result in both ecological decline and social harms.

“Whether for tiger reserves in India, coastal communities in Brazil or wildflower meadows in the UK, the evidence shows that the same basis for successful conservation through stewardship holds true. Currently, this is not the way mainstream conservation efforts work.”

From an initial pool of over 3,000 publications, 169 were found to provide detailed evidence of both the social and ecological sides of conservation.

Strikingly, the authors found that 56 per cent of the studies investigating conservation under 'local' control reported positive outcomes for both human well-being and conservation.

For 'externally' controlled conservation, only 16 per cent reported positive outcomes and more than a third of cases resulted in ineffective conservation and negative social outcomes, in large part due to the conflicts arising with local communities.

However, simply granting control to local communities does not automatically guarantee conservation success.

Local institutions are every bit as complex as the ecosystems they govern, and this review highlights that a number of factors must align to realise successful stewardship.

Community cohesion, shared knowledge and values, social inclusion, effective leadership and legitimate authority are important ingredients that are often disrupted through processes of globalisation, modernisation or insecurity, and can take many years to re-establish.

Additionally, factors beyond the local community can greatly impede local stewardship, such as laws and policies that discriminate against local customs and systems in favour of commercial activities. Moving towards more equitable and effective conservation can therefore be seen as a continuous and collaborative process.

Dr Dawson said: “Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ knowledge systems and actions are the main resource that can generate successful conservation. To try to override them is counterproductive, but it continues, and the current international policy negotiations and resulting pledges to greatly increase the global area of land and sea set aside for conservation are neglecting this key point.

“Conservation strategies need to change, to recognize that the most important factor in achieving positive conservation outcomes is not the level of restrictions or magnitude of benefits provided to local communities, but rather recognising local cultural practices and decision-making. It is imperative to shift now towards an era of conservation through stewardship.”

‘The role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation’ is published in the journal Ecology and Society on September 2, 2021.

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JOURNAL

Ecology and Society

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Systematic review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

The role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Aug-2021

New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

 

IMAGE: THE ILLUSTRATION ABOVE SHOWS THE CORE FEATURES OF THE POVERTY POINT SITE IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA. THE GREEN TO THE RIGHT IS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOOD PLAIN. THE ORANGE IS MACON RIDGE, THE HIGHER GROUND ON WHICH THE SITE IS LOCATED. SIX C-SHAPED RIDGES ARE VISIBLE AT THE SITE. PARTS OF THE RIDGES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY HISTORIC AND MODERN ACTIVITIES. THE PATTERN SOUTH OF MOUND E IS THE RESULT OF FARM ACTIVITY. MANY OF THE LOW AREAS AROUND THE SITE – LIGHTER YELLOW – ARE THOUGHT TO BE PLACES WHERE SOIL WAS MINED TO MAKE RIDGES AND MOUNDS. 1 OF 3 THE ILLUSTRATION ABOVE SHOWS THE CORE FEATURES OF THE POVERTY POINT SITE IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA. THE GREEN TO THE RIGHT IS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOOD PLAIN. THE ORANGE IS MACON RIDGE, THE HIGHER GROUND ON WHICH THE SITE IS LOCATED. SIX C-SHAPED RIDGES ARE VISIBLE AT THE SITE. PARTS OF THE RIDGES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY HISTORIC AND MODERN ACTIVITIES. THE PATTERN SOUTH OF MOUND E IS THE RESULT OF FARM ACTIVITY. MANY OF THE LOW AREAS AROUND THE SITE – LIGHTER YELLOW – ARE THOUGHT TO BE PLACES WHERE SOIL WAS MINED TO MAKE RIDGES AND MOUNDS. view more 

CREDIT: T.R. KIDDER

The Native Americans who occupied the area known as Poverty Point in northern Louisiana more than 3,000 years ago long have been believed to be simple hunters and gatherers. But new Washington University in St. Louis archaeological findings paint a drastically different picture of America’s first civilization.

Far from the simplicity of life sometimes portrayed in anthropology books, these early Indigenous people were highly skilled engineers capable of building massive earthen structures in a matter of months — possibly even weeks — that withstood the test of times, the findings show.

“We as a research community – and population as a whole – have undervalued native people and their ability to do this work and to do it quickly in the ways they did,” said Tristram R. “T.R.” Kidder, lead author and the Edward S. and Tedi Macias Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences.

“One of the most remarkable things is that these earthworks have held together for more than 3,000 years with no failure or major erosion. By comparison, modern bridges, highways and dams fail with amazing regularity because building things out of dirt is more complicated than you would think. They really were incredible engineers with very sophisticated technical knowledge.”

The findings were published in Southeastern Archaeology on September, 1, 2021. Washington University’s Kai Su, Seth B. Grooms, along with graduates Edward R. Henry (Colorado State) and Kelly Ervin (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) also contributed to the paper.

The Poverty Point World Heritage site consists of a massive 72-foot-tall earthen mound and concentric half circle ridges. The structures were constructed by hunter-gatherers approximately 3,400 years ago from nearly 2 million cubic yards of soil. Amazingly, this was done without the luxury of modern tools, domesticated animals or even wheeled carts.

According to Kidder, the site was likely an important religious site where Native Americans came in pilgrimage, similar to Mecca. It was abandoned abruptly between 3,000-3,200 years ago – most likely due to documented flooding in the Mississippi Valley and climate change.

The ridges at Poverty Point contain vast amounts of artifacts around the edges and within, suggesting that people lived there. Kidder and team re-excavated and re-evaluated a site on Ridge West 3 at the Poverty Point Site that was originally excavated by renowned archaeologist Jon Gibson in 1991.

Using modern research methods including radiocarbon dating, microscopic analysis of soils and magnetic measurements of soils, the research provides conclusive evidence that the earthworks were built rapidly.  Essentially, there is no evidence of boundaries or signs of weathering between the various levels, which would have occurred if there was even a brief pause in construction. Kidder believes the construction was completed in lifts, or layers of sediment deposited to increase the ridge height and linear dimensions before another layer was placed to expand the footprint vertically and horizontally.

Why does that matter? According to Kidder, the findings challenge previous beliefs about how pre-modern hunters and gatherers behaved. Building the enormous mounds and ridges at Poverty Point would have required a large labor pool that was well organized and would have required leadership to execute. Hunters and gathers were believed to shun politics.

“Between the speed of the excavation and construction, and the quantity of earth being moved, these data show us native people coming to the site and working in concert. This in and of itself is remarkable because hunter-gatherers aren’t supposed to be able to do these activities,” Kidder said.

What’s even more impressive than how quickly the people built the earthen structures is the fact that they’re still intact. Due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, this area receives immense amounts of rain that makes earthworks especially prone to erosion. Microscopic analysis of soils shows that the Native Americans mixed different types of soil — clays, silts and sand — in a calculated recipe to make the structures stronger.

“Similar to the Roman concrete or rammed earth in China, Native Americans discovered sophisticated ways of mixing different types of materials to make them virtually indestructible, despite not being compacted. There’s some magic there that our modern engineers have not been able to figure out yet,” Kidder said. 

CAPTION

An excavation before sampling. Note the color changes between layers. The darker layers have carbon-rich deposits made by humans, such as midden or garbage that was scraped up and dumped to form the ridge structure during construction. There is little organic garbage in the upper third section.

CREDIT

T.R. Kidder

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JOURNAL

Southeastern Archaeology

DOI

10.1080/0734578X.2021.1958445 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Sep-2021

Human health may be at risk from long-term exposure to air pollution below current air quality standards and guidelines

Growing evidence that current pollution standards are insufficient and need to be revised, suggests study

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

Long-term exposure to air pollution appears to still be linked to higher mortality despite the existence of air quality standards that restrict levels of pollution, suggests a study published online in The BMJ today.

Researchers found evidence of higher death rates amongst people who had been exposed to more air pollution even though the levels were allowed under current official standards.

Previous studies have found an association between long term exposure to outdoor air pollution such as those in the form of fine particles in the air (known as particulate matter or PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and poor health or death. 

Air pollution concentrations have fallen substantially in Europe since the 1990s, but it is unclear whether there still is a link between pollution and ill health or death at concentrations of pollution that are below current permitted limits.

Therefore, an international team of researchers led by the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, set out to investigate if there was an association between low levels of air pollution concentrations and natural and cause specific deaths.

Low level air pollution was defined as concentrations below current limit values as set by the European Union, US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines.

The researchers analysed data on eight groups of people within six European countries – Sweden, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria – totalling 325,367 adults collectively.

Their study, known as the Effects of Low-Level Air Pollution: A Study in Europe (ELAPSE) recruited participants in the 1990s or 2000s.

Of the 325,367 participants who were followed up over an almost 20-year period, around 14.5% (47,131 people) died during the study period.

Analysis of the results showed that people who had higher exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide, and black carbon were more likely to die. 

An increase of 5 µg/m3 (a concentration measure of particulate matter) in PM2.5 was associated with a 13% increase in natural deaths while the corresponding figure for a 10 µg/m3 increase in nitrogen dioxide was 8.6%. Associations with PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide were largely independent of each other.

Moreover, associations with PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and black carbon remained significant at low to very low concentrations.

For people who were exposed to pollution levels below the US standard of 12 µg/m3, an increase of 5 µg/m3 in PM2.5 was associated with a 29.6% increase in natural deaths. People exposed to nitrogen dioxide at less than half the current EU standard of 40 µg/m3, a 10 µg/m3 increase in nitrogen dioxide was associated with a 9.9% increase in natural deaths.

This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause.

The study also has some limitations, say the authors, such as the fact that it focused on exposure in 2010 which was towards the end of the follow-up period for most participants and, given the downward trend in air pollution, this measure might not exactly reflect the concentrations experienced during follow-up.

However, this was a large study from multiple European groups of people with detailed information provided.

As such, the authors conclude: “Our study contributes to the evidence that outdoor air pollution is associated with mortality even at levels below the current European and North American standards and WHO guideline values.

“These findings are therefore an important contribution to the debate about revision of air quality limits, guidelines and standards, and future assessments by the Global Burden of Disease [study].”

[Ends]

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JOURNAL

BMJ

DOI

10.1136/bmj.n1904 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Long term exposure to low level air pollution and mortality in eight European cohorts within the ELAPSE project: pooled analysis

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

31-Aug-2021

Less air pollution and more access to green or blue spaces: A recipe to improve the life quality of people with COPD

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BARCELONA INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH (ISGLOBAL)

Air pollution and greater distance with green of blue spaces negatively impact the health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by ”la Caixa” Foundation. The findings highlight the need for implementing urban policies that improve the life quality of a great number of people living with respiratory diseases across the world.

The health-related quality of life has become one of the most relevant parameters to measure the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “We know that several clinical and psychological factors can affect this parameter, but little is known on the effect of environmental factors,” explains Judith Garcia-Aymerich, ISGlobal researcher. Thus, Garcia-Aymerich and her team assessed, for the first time, the association between health-related quality of life and exposure to different environmental factors in over 400 COPD patients with different levels of disease severity, from moderate to high.

The patients, all of them residing in Barcelona, underwent a COPD assessment test and answered a clinical questionnaire. The research team determined the residential exposure of each patient to air pollutants (NO2, PM2.5 and PM10 fine particles, and PM2.5 absorbance), traffic noise, land surface temperatures, and distance to green or blue (water) spaces. They found that exposure to high levels of NO2 and PM2.5 absorbance (an indicator of black carbon emanating from combustion) were associated with worse assessment and mental health questionnaire scores. “This might be explained by the restorative effect of blue and green spaces, although it could also be related to the fact that these spaces encourage greater physical activity,” says Subhabrata Moitra, first author of the study. 

The authors acknowledge that, being a cross-sectional study rather than a longitudinal one, they cannot demonstrate causality, and that further studies are needed to better understand the contribution of each pollutant. “However, this study, performed for the first time on a Mediterranean population, provides evidence that air pollutants (particularly NO2 and black carbon) and the distance to green or blue spaces negatively affects the health-related quality of life in COPD patients,” says Garcia-Aymerich.

These results can help clinicians to provide recommendations that improve the quality of life of their COPD patients, for example by avoiding traffic zones or being close to blue and green spaces. They also underline the need to limit air pollution in cities and redefine urban policies that improve the quality of life of the great number of people who live with respiratory diseases across the world.

These findings are published shortly before the celebration of the European Respiratory Society Congress 2021, which will take place virtually September 5-8.

Reference

S Moira, M Foraster, A Arbillaga-Etxarri, et al. Roles of the physical environment in health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Env Res. Jan 2022, 11828. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111828

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JOURNAL

Environmental Research

DOI

10.1016/j.envres.2021.111828 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Roles of the physical environment in health-related quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Aug-2021

Safeguarding European wild pollinators

Grant and Award Announcement

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS

 

IMAGE: SAFEGUARD LOGO view more 

CREDIT: @SAFEGUARD PROJECT

Wild pollinators are a key part of European biodiversity and provide a wide range of benefits to crops, wild plants, and human wellbeing.

At the same time, wild pollinators face multiple threats in Europe and around the world, including climate change, land use and habitat loss. That is why pollinators are declining in number and diversity. The full extent of their decline, its complex causes and the most effective ways to respond to it are still not well understood.

Safeguard is a newly funded EU project receiving 7.8 million Euros from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Safeguard aims to expand current assessments of the status and trends of European wild pollinators, including bees, butterflies, flies, and other insects. It will use research, knowledge synthesis and state-of-the-art models to reveal current and future impacts of pressures on wild pollinators, paying particular attention to emerging threats, how different threats interact, and what the long-term and cumulative effects are.

25 institutions from 15 countries will collaborate

A team of researchers, NGOs, industry and policy experts from 25 institutions spread across 14 European countries and China are joining forces to contribute to Europe’s capacity to reverse the losses of wild pollinators.

“This interdisciplinary project will make a significant contribution to the protection of pollinators and their functions in European ecosystems and has the potential to reinforce global initiatives that aim to halt biodiversity declines,” comments Safeguard coordinator Prof. Dr. Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, head of the Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany.

CAPTION

Wild pollinators. Species in order of appearance: Macroglossum stellatarum, Macropis europaea, Polyommatus icarus.

CREDIT

@Wikimedia Commons

Reducing multiple pressures on wild pollinators 

Safeguard will conduct empirical research for systematic assessment of multiple threats to wild pollinators at scales from the local to global, and will provide an evaluation of what are the most effective ways to halt declines in different.

One of Safeguard’s objectives is to improve understanding of the diverse values of European pollinators and develop new and diverse approaches to benefit pollinators – from field to landscape scales, and across agricultural, natural and urban systems.

Mobilising concerted multiple actions

With the support of key stakeholders, Safeguard will co-develop an integrated assessment framework, including guides to decision makers, so our research insights can more effectively support evidence-based management and policy at national, European and global scales.

Safeguard will increase awareness of wild pollinators and their societal value, especially with the general public, industry, business and policymakers, in order to mobilise concerted multiple actions towards reversing wild pollinator decline across Europe.

Start of the Safeguard project

Safeguard will hold its official kick-off meeting between 7 – 9 September 2021. In an effort to provide a safe environment in the face of COVID-19, the start of the four-year project will take place in an entirely online environment.