Fossil fuel emissions aren’t just driving climate change and worsening air quality, they’re also hurting crop yields enough to cause some $63 billion in annual losses in East Asia, scientists say.
With high levels of ozone pollution, China, South Korea and Japan are seeing diminished yields in wheat, rice, and maize, according toChina alone is losing a third of its potential wheat production and nearly a quarter of rice yields as ozone disrupts plant growth. That has worrying implications beyond the region, with Asia providing the majority of the world’s rice supply.
In the stratosphere, a layer of ozone protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation. But closer to Earth’s surface, ozone can harm plants and animals, including humans. - or 7.5 million hectares - from 2009 to 2019, according to a state land survey published in August last year. While Beijing has since drawn a “red line” to protect existing agricultural land, experts still anticipate the total to fall further by 2030.“In some parts of the world, ozone pollution is comparable to or even worse for crops than the other big stressors of heat, drought, and pests,” said Katrina Sharps, a spatial data analyst at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
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