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The amount of dust in the atmosphere will decrease slightly in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday, warning that poor environmental management is increasing the risk of sand and dust storms.
Every year, about 2,000 million tons of dust enter the atmosphere, “obscuring the sky and harming air quality“in regions that may be thousands of kilometers away, but also”affecting economies, ecosystems, weather and climate“, the WMO warned.
But in 2023, the average surface dust concentration was slightly lower than in 2022, mainly due to reduced dust emissions in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, northern India, central Australia, the Iranian Plateau and northwest China, the report said.
The UN agency specifies, however, that “Annual mean surface dust concentrations over western central Asia, north-central China and southern Mongolia were higher in 2023 than in 2022“.
The most violent sandstorm of the year, according to the WMO, was the one that swept through Mongolia and northern China in March, and whose violent winds and dust gave the sky a worrying orange color.
She “has led to a dramatic deterioration in air quality“, exceeding in some regions the “9,000 micrograms per cubic meter“, the organization emphasizes.
The WMO explains that “Sand and dust storms have major environmental, economic and health impacts” and “Poor land and water management exacerbates the problem“.
“Scientific evidence shows that human activities have an impact on sand and dust storms. For example, rising temperatures, drought and increased evaporation lead to a decrease in soil moisture.“, says WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
However, there is “not all bad news” according to the agency, which indicates that “Monitoring and forecasting accuracy have improved in recent years“and that transporting sand across the oceans had some positive aspects.
July 12 marks the International Day to Combat Sand and Dust Storms.