Question raised in Lok Sabha on pollution from ozone/black carbon, 04/08/2015
Question raised in Lok Sabha on pollution from ozone/black carbon, 04/08/2015. A research paper on ‘Recent climate and air pollution impacts on Indian agriculture’ has been published in Current Issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in November 2014. As per the study two Short-lived Climate Pollutants, (SLCPs) tropospheric ozone and black carbon have direct effects on crop yields beyond their indirect effects through climate. The statistical model suggests that, averaged over India, yields in 2010 were up to 36% lower for wheat than they otherwise would have been the case. Estimates for rice (−20%) are similarly large, but not statistically significant. Upper-bound estimates suggest that 90% of these losses is due to the direct effects of SLCPs. As per the report on Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone published by United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) similar impact has been reported in South, West and Central Asia. The findings have been noted by Government of India.