In the previous blog post, I introduced the phenomenon of the Yellow Dust that brings in air pollutants from the arid regions of continental Asia, into the cities of China, Korea and Japan. I also mentioned that the composition of the particles are mainly fine or ultra-fine sand which was the result of aeolian processes and years and years of erosions of the landscape of the deserts. From this, we would think that the causes of the Yellow Dust is inherently natural. However, as with most environmental issues, anthropogenic activities have intensified the impacts of the Yellow Dust.

 

Desertification

 

The dust storms that distributes the sediments of the deserts to the entire East Asia are the result of ongoing desertification. Following global warming and climate change, which exacerbates dry spells, desertification has intensified throughout the years. Placing focus on China’s arid regions, we see that the country is expected to lose almost 1 million square kilometres of humid areas to arid and semi-arid regions by 2030 (FAO, ?). Aside from climate change, local anthropogenic activities also contributes significantly to desertification. With rapid increase of the Chinese population comes over-utilisation of China’s land resources; more land cleared to build cities to house more people, intensified agriculture and livestock rearing. Such activities places immense stress on land as well as water resources, resulting in the drying up of groundwater resources, leading to desertification (FAO, ?)

 

Industrial pollutants laced with sand sediments

During recent studies on the Yellow Dust, it was discovered that sand particles from the desert was not the only form of pollutant within the Yellow Dust. Secondary particles such as mercury and cadmium has been detected amongst the pollutants, and its origins can be traced back to the industries of China (Kang & Kim, 2014).

 

Political conflicts

Needless to say, the mitigation and slowing down of desertification, as well as the Chinese industry’s issue of transboundary pollution has brought about political discussions with the affected countries in East Asia, for example setting up a Republic of Korea-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation to discuss cooperative efforts to tackle air pollution (Kang & Kim, 2014).

 

References

Kang, D., & Kim, J.-E. (2014). Fine, ultrafine, and yellow dust: Emerging health problems in korea. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 29(5), 621. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2014.29.5.621

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Ed.). (1997). Drylands development and combating desertification: Bibliographic study of experiences in China. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.