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ENVIRONMENT REPORT - Asian Brown Cloud
By Cynthia Kirk
Broadcast:
This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT
REPORT.
AP
A United Nations study says a thick cloud of
pollution covering southern Asia threatens the lives of millions of
people. Scientists say the pollution could increase lung diseases and
cause early deaths. The cloud is also damaging agriculture and affecting
rainfall levels.
Scientists are calling it the Asian Brown Cloud.
It has affected Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The pollution cloud is three kilometers high.
Scientists say it can move halfway around the world in a week.
The cloud is a mixture of ash, acids, aerosols and other particles.
It is the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural waste,
and huge increases in the burning of fuels by vehicles, industries and
power stations.
Pollution from millions of bad cooking stoves
has made the problem worse. Many poor people burn fuels like wood and
animal waste in such stoves.
Scientists say the cloud of pollution appears
to cool the land and oceans by blocking sunlight. They say it reduces
the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth surface by as much as fifteen
percent. At the same time, heat inside the cloud warms the lower parts
of the atmosphere.
Scientists say this combination could be changing
winter rainfall levels in Asia. They say rainfall has increased over
the eastern coast of Asia. But it has dropped sharply over parts of
northwestern Asia. The report says the cloud could reduce rainfall over
northwestern Pakistan, Afghanistan and western China by up to forty
percent.
Harmful chemicals from the cloud are mixing
with rainfall. This acid rain damages crops and trees and threatens
public health. Scientists are concerned that the pollution will intensify
during the next thirty years as the population of Asia increases to
an estimated five-thousand-million people.
Scientists say the Asian Brown Cloud could affect
other parts of the world unless steps are taken to reduce pollution.
Environmental groups say action is needed to find clean, renewable energy
sources.
More than two-hundred scientists took part in
the U-N study. The U-N Environment Program prepared the study for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development. That meeting is taking place
in Johannesburg, South Africa through September fourth.
This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT
was written by Cynthia Kirk.
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