Evaluating the contribution of Fire Emissions to Transboundary Air Pollution and public health risks in the Asia-Pacific region
Lead Research Organisation:
UK CENTRE FOR ECOLOGY & HYDROLOGY
Department Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Effects
Abstract
The seminal 2012 publication of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study highlighted the relevance of ambient particular matter pollution for adverse effects on public health, ranking within the top ten of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in both developed and developing countries. While much emphasis has been placed on research to better understand and identify strategies to reduce air pollution from key anthropogenic emission sources (e.g. road transport, shipping, household biomass burning), forest fires (also referred to as wildfires or bushfires in different parts of the world) did not get as much attention. Despite the occurrence of wildfires without any human influence, a recent paper researching the loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors at a global scale indicates that only 10% of all wildfire emissions can be classed as 'natural'. Other studies illustrate the complexity and trends in wildfires particularly in South and South East Asian countries. At the same time, most research into modelling effects of transboundary air pollution on public health has to date focused on the Northern Hemisphere, with very little data available to underpin robust assessments of the contribution of fire events on air quality in the wider Asia-Pacific Region (APR).
Evaluating the contribution of Fire Emissions to Transboundary Air Pollution and public health risks in the Asia-Pacific region (EFETAP) brings together researchers from the UK, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia to address the critical questions related to the contributions to transboundary air pollution from wildfires and other biomass burning in the region. To achieve this, EFETAP will improve the representation of fire emissions and their contribution in a globally applied and widely used state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport model to determine the scale of the contribution of fire emissions to air pollution episodes in the APR. Secondly, building on a better understanding of the origin and composition of fine particulate matter concentrations in the APR, health researchers will explore the utility of better integrating environmental and health datasets to identify key drivers and potential intervention points for strategies to reduce public health impacts. Finally, EFETAP aims to trial the development of a framework for short-term forecasting of PM2.5 pollution episodes in the APR, providing better insight into the composition and origin of the pollutants driving severe haze events.
In order to achieve these objectives, EFETAP brings together an international, interdisciplinary team comprising five academic institutions and two research institutes from 4 countries (UK, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia). This new partnership combines existing bilateral collaborations into a strong, integrated team with complementary expertise and ample experience in working across discipline and country boundaries. The strength of this partnership lies as well in the relationships of all partners to the wider research landscape, including close ties with national and international funding agencies and science foundations, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (with its Air Convention, which has laid the foundations for transboundary air pollution assessment globally), the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme. The PI, Co-I and project partners are well established and networked, bringing considerable added value and in-kind contributions through staff time and expertise, which will further add to the leveraging power of this new partnership.
The project will convene two workshops, one in Australia and one in the UK to engage the wider academic community, research funding agencies and policy makers to ensure that the findings are accessible and taken up by the research community, and informs future international, interdisciplinary funding calls.
Evaluating the contribution of Fire Emissions to Transboundary Air Pollution and public health risks in the Asia-Pacific region (EFETAP) brings together researchers from the UK, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia to address the critical questions related to the contributions to transboundary air pollution from wildfires and other biomass burning in the region. To achieve this, EFETAP will improve the representation of fire emissions and their contribution in a globally applied and widely used state-of-the-art atmospheric chemistry transport model to determine the scale of the contribution of fire emissions to air pollution episodes in the APR. Secondly, building on a better understanding of the origin and composition of fine particulate matter concentrations in the APR, health researchers will explore the utility of better integrating environmental and health datasets to identify key drivers and potential intervention points for strategies to reduce public health impacts. Finally, EFETAP aims to trial the development of a framework for short-term forecasting of PM2.5 pollution episodes in the APR, providing better insight into the composition and origin of the pollutants driving severe haze events.
In order to achieve these objectives, EFETAP brings together an international, interdisciplinary team comprising five academic institutions and two research institutes from 4 countries (UK, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia). This new partnership combines existing bilateral collaborations into a strong, integrated team with complementary expertise and ample experience in working across discipline and country boundaries. The strength of this partnership lies as well in the relationships of all partners to the wider research landscape, including close ties with national and international funding agencies and science foundations, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (with its Air Convention, which has laid the foundations for transboundary air pollution assessment globally), the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme. The PI, Co-I and project partners are well established and networked, bringing considerable added value and in-kind contributions through staff time and expertise, which will further add to the leveraging power of this new partnership.
The project will convene two workshops, one in Australia and one in the UK to engage the wider academic community, research funding agencies and policy makers to ensure that the findings are accessible and taken up by the research community, and informs future international, interdisciplinary funding calls.
Organisations
- UK CENTRE FOR ECOLOGY & HYDROLOGY (Lead Research Organisation)
- Kebangsaan University (Collaboration)
- Universitas Indonesia (Collaboration)
- University of Malaysia (Collaboration)
- Natural Environment Research Council (Collaboration)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Collaboration)
- Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) (Collaboration)
- UNSW Sydney (Collaboration)
- Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Collaboration)
- University of Malaya (Project Partner)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Project Partner)
- University of Indonesia (Project Partner)
- Woolcock Institute of Medical Research (Project Partner)
- University of Edinburgh (Project Partner)
- Kebangsaan University Malaysia (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Massimo Vieno (Principal Investigator) | |
Stefan Reis (Co-Investigator) |
Description | The project has focused on establishing a collaborative partnership with the intent to build a joint proposal for international research. Through workshops and networking, in particular in the emerging Forum for International Collaboration on Air Pollution under the UNECE Air Convention, the key goals have been achieved. |
Exploitation Route | Through two sets of online workshops, involving Defra and NERC representatives, as well as key researchers in the APR, we have established the network for research collaborations. Building on this, a dedicated programme of research has been designed and included in the National Capability Award for International Research by UKCEH. Under this award, the initial findings and identified topics will be taken forward in substance, with the ambition to publish several peer-reviewed research papers in due course, and disseminated to the wider research community. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Other |
Description | As identified in the UNEP Report "Spreading like Wildfire", there is a significant potential for societal and economic impacts from an increase in wildfire activities, both in regions already suffering of air pollution and other adverse impacts, but as well in world regions where new increased wildfire activities may emerge. While this short pilot project does not lead to immediate impacts, it has created new collaborations, including a direct involvement in shaping the UNECE Forum for International Collaboration on Air Pollution (FICAP). Stefan Reis has consulted Defra (John Salter) and Swedish EPA (Anna Engleryd), the co-chairs of the new Forum and Task Force on transboundary impacts of wildfire air pollution. In addition, the partnership created in EFETAP directly led to invitations to key researchers in the Asia-Pacific region to join meetings of the Forum. It has built new connections between researchers in the Asia-Pacific region and the UK, as well as key international bodies, such as the World Health Organization and its Collaborative Centres in the Region. As such, it has not established a new research area, but contributed to the consolidation and expansion of existing networks, which will enable the new National Capability programme with a focus on international research, awarded to UKCEH, to have substantially increased reach in the region, and globally. Ultimately, the research for which this award prepared the ground, has substantial potential for achieving impacts benefitting the general public in the region and globally by enhancing our understanding of the transboundary contribution of biomass burning in wildfires to public health risks from air pollution. |
Description | Emerging partnership with APR Researchers |
Organisation | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Through this funding and the workshops organised, an emerging partnership between UK-based researchers and scientists and practitioners in Australia (UNSW/CAR-CRE, CSIRO), Malaysia (UKM, UM) and Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia) is forming around the topic of transboundary air pollution and health effects of biomass burning in the Asia-Pacific Region. UKCEH is coordinating this effort and contributing atmospheric modelling data to this partnership and is leading on partnership building with the objective to establish a substantive, funded research programme. UKCEH CoI Reis is leading facilitating discussions with Defra and NERC International about potential mechanisms e.g. around the UNECE CLRTAP Global Forum, building on long-term experience in transboundary air pollution and policy interventions, which would benefit the APR where such experience is - so far - limited. |
Collaborator Contribution | All partners have contributed time to attend the workshops, commenting on notes and contributing scientific publications and other relevant material to the discussions. All partners are committed to the development of a collaborative research proposal and to engage in conversations with national funders and policy makers. |
Impact | This funding is multidisciplinary and has not generated tangible outputs at this stage. It involves environmental scientists (air pollution modellers, emission experts), medical researchers (epidemiologists, public health experts) and medical practitioners (clinicians, GPs). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Emerging partnership with APR Researchers |
Organisation | Kebangsaan University |
Country | Indonesia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Through this funding and the workshops organised, an emerging partnership between UK-based researchers and scientists and practitioners in Australia (UNSW/CAR-CRE, CSIRO), Malaysia (UKM, UM) and Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia) is forming around the topic of transboundary air pollution and health effects of biomass burning in the Asia-Pacific Region. UKCEH is coordinating this effort and contributing atmospheric modelling data to this partnership and is leading on partnership building with the objective to establish a substantive, funded research programme. UKCEH CoI Reis is leading facilitating discussions with Defra and NERC International about potential mechanisms e.g. around the UNECE CLRTAP Global Forum, building on long-term experience in transboundary air pollution and policy interventions, which would benefit the APR where such experience is - so far - limited. |
Collaborator Contribution | All partners have contributed time to attend the workshops, commenting on notes and contributing scientific publications and other relevant material to the discussions. All partners are committed to the development of a collaborative research proposal and to engage in conversations with national funders and policy makers. |
Impact | This funding is multidisciplinary and has not generated tangible outputs at this stage. It involves environmental scientists (air pollution modellers, emission experts), medical researchers (epidemiologists, public health experts) and medical practitioners (clinicians, GPs). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Emerging partnership with APR Researchers |
Organisation | Universitas Indonesia |
Country | Indonesia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Through this funding and the workshops organised, an emerging partnership between UK-based researchers and scientists and practitioners in Australia (UNSW/CAR-CRE, CSIRO), Malaysia (UKM, UM) and Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia) is forming around the topic of transboundary air pollution and health effects of biomass burning in the Asia-Pacific Region. UKCEH is coordinating this effort and contributing atmospheric modelling data to this partnership and is leading on partnership building with the objective to establish a substantive, funded research programme. UKCEH CoI Reis is leading facilitating discussions with Defra and NERC International about potential mechanisms e.g. around the UNECE CLRTAP Global Forum, building on long-term experience in transboundary air pollution and policy interventions, which would benefit the APR where such experience is - so far - limited. |
Collaborator Contribution | All partners have contributed time to attend the workshops, commenting on notes and contributing scientific publications and other relevant material to the discussions. All partners are committed to the development of a collaborative research proposal and to engage in conversations with national funders and policy makers. |
Impact | This funding is multidisciplinary and has not generated tangible outputs at this stage. It involves environmental scientists (air pollution modellers, emission experts), medical researchers (epidemiologists, public health experts) and medical practitioners (clinicians, GPs). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Emerging partnership with APR Researchers |
Organisation | University of Malaysia |
Country | Malaysia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Through this funding and the workshops organised, an emerging partnership between UK-based researchers and scientists and practitioners in Australia (UNSW/CAR-CRE, CSIRO), Malaysia (UKM, UM) and Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia) is forming around the topic of transboundary air pollution and health effects of biomass burning in the Asia-Pacific Region. UKCEH is coordinating this effort and contributing atmospheric modelling data to this partnership and is leading on partnership building with the objective to establish a substantive, funded research programme. UKCEH CoI Reis is leading facilitating discussions with Defra and NERC International about potential mechanisms e.g. around the UNECE CLRTAP Global Forum, building on long-term experience in transboundary air pollution and policy interventions, which would benefit the APR where such experience is - so far - limited. |
Collaborator Contribution | All partners have contributed time to attend the workshops, commenting on notes and contributing scientific publications and other relevant material to the discussions. All partners are committed to the development of a collaborative research proposal and to engage in conversations with national funders and policy makers. |
Impact | This funding is multidisciplinary and has not generated tangible outputs at this stage. It involves environmental scientists (air pollution modellers, emission experts), medical researchers (epidemiologists, public health experts) and medical practitioners (clinicians, GPs). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Emerging partnership with APR Researchers |
Organisation | University of New South Wales |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Through this funding and the workshops organised, an emerging partnership between UK-based researchers and scientists and practitioners in Australia (UNSW/CAR-CRE, CSIRO), Malaysia (UKM, UM) and Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia) is forming around the topic of transboundary air pollution and health effects of biomass burning in the Asia-Pacific Region. UKCEH is coordinating this effort and contributing atmospheric modelling data to this partnership and is leading on partnership building with the objective to establish a substantive, funded research programme. UKCEH CoI Reis is leading facilitating discussions with Defra and NERC International about potential mechanisms e.g. around the UNECE CLRTAP Global Forum, building on long-term experience in transboundary air pollution and policy interventions, which would benefit the APR where such experience is - so far - limited. |
Collaborator Contribution | All partners have contributed time to attend the workshops, commenting on notes and contributing scientific publications and other relevant material to the discussions. All partners are committed to the development of a collaborative research proposal and to engage in conversations with national funders and policy makers. |
Impact | This funding is multidisciplinary and has not generated tangible outputs at this stage. It involves environmental scientists (air pollution modellers, emission experts), medical researchers (epidemiologists, public health experts) and medical practitioners (clinicians, GPs). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Engagement with the Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP) |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | On the basis of this short-term award, contributions have been made in the development and setup phase of the new Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP), which has been instigated by the UK (Defra) and Sweden (Swedish EPA) under the umbrella of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Contribution made by the team were supporting Defra and Swedish EPA, as well as engaging with NERC international team on establishing key links to partner organisations in the Asia-Pacific Region. - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the inaugural FICAP meeting in Bristol in October 2022 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the Saltsjoebaden VII Workshop and FICAP forum meeting in Gothenburg in March 2023 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in a Workshop organised by the WHO Collaborating Centre on Climate and Health, Curtin University, July 2023 - Organising a conference session (Stefan Reis, Damaris Tan) at MODSIM 2023 (Darwin, Australia) on modelling environmental health impacts of wildfires |
Collaborator Contribution | - Providing introductions and links to research partners in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - Facilitating invitations to key scientific players to FICAP events in Bristol in 2022 and Gothenburg in March 2023 |
Impact | No specific outputs yet |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Engagement with the Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP) |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | On the basis of this short-term award, contributions have been made in the development and setup phase of the new Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP), which has been instigated by the UK (Defra) and Sweden (Swedish EPA) under the umbrella of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Contribution made by the team were supporting Defra and Swedish EPA, as well as engaging with NERC international team on establishing key links to partner organisations in the Asia-Pacific Region. - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the inaugural FICAP meeting in Bristol in October 2022 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the Saltsjoebaden VII Workshop and FICAP forum meeting in Gothenburg in March 2023 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in a Workshop organised by the WHO Collaborating Centre on Climate and Health, Curtin University, July 2023 - Organising a conference session (Stefan Reis, Damaris Tan) at MODSIM 2023 (Darwin, Australia) on modelling environmental health impacts of wildfires |
Collaborator Contribution | - Providing introductions and links to research partners in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - Facilitating invitations to key scientific players to FICAP events in Bristol in 2022 and Gothenburg in March 2023 |
Impact | No specific outputs yet |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Engagement with the Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP) |
Organisation | Swedish Environmental Protection Agency |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | On the basis of this short-term award, contributions have been made in the development and setup phase of the new Forum for International Cooperation on Air Pollution (FICAP), which has been instigated by the UK (Defra) and Sweden (Swedish EPA) under the umbrella of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). Contribution made by the team were supporting Defra and Swedish EPA, as well as engaging with NERC international team on establishing key links to partner organisations in the Asia-Pacific Region. - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the inaugural FICAP meeting in Bristol in October 2022 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in the Saltsjoebaden VII Workshop and FICAP forum meeting in Gothenburg in March 2023 - Participation (Stefan Reis) in a Workshop organised by the WHO Collaborating Centre on Climate and Health, Curtin University, July 2023 - Organising a conference session (Stefan Reis, Damaris Tan) at MODSIM 2023 (Darwin, Australia) on modelling environmental health impacts of wildfires |
Collaborator Contribution | - Providing introductions and links to research partners in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - Facilitating invitations to key scientific players to FICAP events in Bristol in 2022 and Gothenburg in March 2023 |
Impact | No specific outputs yet |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Exploratory Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An exploratory workshop was held in two parts during November 2021 (9th and 23rd), scheduled to accommodate wider participation from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the UK. The focus of this workshop was to address an essential element of improving the evaluation of emissions from bush and forest fires in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR). The main discussion points were around existing research and datasets which do already, or could further contribute to modelling transboundary air pollution and public health risks. One key element is the availability of timely and accurate emission data from fire events. Research activities under way at CAR and CSIRO to develop advanced 1 km x 1 km fire emissions for Australia utilising earth observation products. Building on existing experience in the team, the exploratory workshop addressed the following key questions: 1) What emission data are currently available for atmospheric chemistry transport model assessments in the region? 2) What evidence can be derived from routinely collected public health statistics (e.g. hospital admissions, bronchodilator prescriptions, GP visits) regarding increased health burdens during episodes of high fire activity? 3) How can interdisciplinary capabilities across the international project team be utilised to add value to existing research activities in each country? Questions 1 & 2 were the focus of Part 1 (9th of November), while Question 3 formed the main discussion point for Part 2 (23rd of November). The outcomes of this exploratory workshops form the main results of work package 1 and will be considered for a position paper, potentially building on this report and summarising the current state-of-the-art of applied research on relationship between fire emissions and public health risks in the APR. The first workshop part was attended by 9 participants, representing organisations from Australia, Malaysia and the UK, expanding to 12 participants (including representation from Indonesia) for the 2nd part. Key summary outcomes of discussions: • Transboundary air pollution from biomass burning is a known and persistent issue in the APR, which could benefit from a formal political agreement or science-policy interaction to jointly develop approaches to reduce the occurrence and impact of such events. • The CoVID pandemic had hampered international research collaborations and taken priority in many areas where environmental/public health researchers and practitioners were active. • In Australia, CAR-CRE and CSIRO are working on modelling of fire emissions incl. local factors, with the aim to improve a national emission inventory; currently, this is still incomplete with the responsibility lying with the states, but progress in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC); open access and consistency remains to be a challenge • Air pollution monitoring datasets have become more widespread and a standardised database across all states was a major achievement • CSIRO and BOM are investigating the development of a prediction system for fire smoke, with NSW investing most resources; some literature exist on the impact of prescribed biomass burning emissions, but monitoring of emissions, concentrations and effects is rather sparse. • Most studies so far are focused on Australia, with fewer studies with overseas colleagues based on routine surveys; within Australia, transport of fire smoke between states is a key interest; a collaborative funding proposal to UK funding agencies (Wellcome Trust) had not been successful, but could form the basis for further considerations. • Transboundary effects of Australian biomass burning is spatially constrained to the Northern Territory primarily, with effects of fire smoke recorded on and from Sumatra and Borneo, however, in Australia, this area is sparsely populated Evidence gaps and challenges: • Confounding factors, e.g. viral loads remain an issue for the association of health effects, as well as data quality; e.g. in work on the 1997 haze episodes, only hospital deaths could be accounted for; adjustments for flu season or similar data is essential, but pollen data is not routinely monitored, so it is difficult to account for allergies (despite allergy levels in Malaysia for instance seeming to be high - this could suggest hidden issues and underlying health impacts; seasonality and respiratory diseases - in Malaysia, seasonal differences seem to be not as pronounce due to climate conditions, but specific triggers (fires, general air pollution, monsoon) could play a role in temporal variability; due to the various factors contributing to health impacts, focusing on the attributable factor from biomass burning should be the most promising approach • 2019 would be an interesting year to assess due to long haze episode in Malaysia, as well as the severe and prolonged Australian bush fires; • A clear case could be made for APR international collaboration with a focus on transboundary biomass burning impacts; this should include wider issues, e.g. expanding to include other countries such as India etc.; it is evident that environmental health impacts of such issues cannot be solved nationally or by individual states within Australia; • For health impact assessment and rapid evidence generation, models could be used to generate estimates of air pollution health risks from recent/current fire activities; one challenge is the speed with which key fire emission data are available; at global scale, data products should be accessible fairly rapidly, being derived from Earth Observation products; there is currently work being undertaken in Australia to streamline this and previous work based on data from sparsely distributed monitoring stations could be expanded to model-based predictions; • Distinguishing the contribution from deliberate (agricultural) biomass burning vs. uncontrolled (wild) fires could be important to undertake health impact assessments of different types of fires; however, primary focus for transboundary effects would be of large-scale, uncontrolled fires due to the magnitude and scale of their impacts; main research question would be the proportion and overall magnitude of health impacts from transboundary transport of fire smoke in the APR • Validation of model predictions (as well as model assessments of historic fire events) requires detailed, speciated measurements of particulate matter; UKCEH has developed lab analysis methods for deriving organic aerosol mass fractions if filter archives exist; for Malaysia, 65 continuous monitoring stations now exists and a lot of work on speciated data has been conducted, including for 2019 and 2020, determining EC, OC, PAH and other species; in addition, campaign-type observation data incl. speciations exists for the Sydney region • Research conducted at CAR-CRE utilising land use and land cover data, as well as Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Earth Observation data showed promising results in regression analyses and statistical models, when incorporating meteorological data • A major policy debate is ongoing about the health effects of controlled/prescribed burning in the view of reducing the risk of uncontrolled fires; any quantitative evidence to inform this debate could be very valuable. • Malaysia has observed intensive haze periods in the years 2013 and 2015, with school closures and severe impacts on respiratory health; this triggered an enhanced interest in researching the environmental factors influencing respiratory health outcomes. • Data availability remains a key issue, with a lot of data on health and environmental parameters still missing or not electronically recorded, and thus remaining difficult to access; data collection for research for the period from 2014 to 2017 revealed further challenges with data from earlier years, including lacking information on confounders, e.g. viral infections, remaining difficult to obtain • Observational data of air pollutant concentrations is patchy as well, with PM2.5 measurements having only been introduced after 2017, with some earlier data for NOx, SO2 and CO available. • In Malaysia, the combination of high temperatures, high humidity and air pollution episodes contributes additional drivers to human health effects, including mental health impacts of high heat and humidity; the Klang area is most affected • A set of papers by Sahani et al. (2014a, 2014b ) and Ramakreshnan et al. (2018) have explored relationships between air pollution, haze, biomass burning and health effects in Malaysia. • In Indonesia haze from forest fires has primary impacts on 3 main cities i.e. Palembang (South Sumatera), Pontianak (West Kalimantan), and Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan)l; monthly data of PM10, PM2.5, & SO2 from is available from Local Environmental Office and monthly data of Asthma, Pneumonia, & Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) from the City Health Office; monthly data covers the years of 2010-2020 for Palangkaraya & Pontianak and 2014-2020 for Palembang. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |