Environmental management: a country-level evaluation of atmospheric particulate matter removal by the forests of India

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 195; no. 11; p. 1306
• Main Authors: Bagaria, Priyamvada, Mahapatra, Parth Sarathi, Bherwani, Hemant, Pandey, Rajiv
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.11.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air pollution; Air pollution control; Atmospheric particulate matter; Atmospheric particulates; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Coniferous forests; Deciduous forests; Deposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Forest ecosystems; Forests; Littoral environments; Mitigation; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Pollutant removal; Pollution abatement; Removal; Suspended particulate matter; Swamps; Tropical forests; India; Pollution removal; Air pollution; MERRA-2; Dry deposition; Ecosystem service
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-11928-w

Particulate matter (PM) is a critical air pollutant, responsible for an array of ailments leading to premature mortality worldwide. Nature-based solutions for mitigation of PM and especially role of forests in mitigating PM from an ecosystem perspective are less explored. Forests provide a natural pollution abatement strategy by providing a surface area for the deposition of PM. Depending on their structure and composition, forests have varying capacities for PM adsorption, which is again less explored. Hence, in the present study, we evaluate the removal capacity of PM by the forest-type groups of India. Deposition flux and total PM removal across sixteen forest types were estimated based on the 2019 dataset of PM using Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) data. Externality values and PM removal costs by industrial equipment were used for associating an economic value to the air pollution abatement service by forests. The total PM 2.5 removal by forests in 2019 was estimated to be 1361.28 tons and PM 10 was estimated to be 303,658.27 tons. Deposition of PM was found to be high in littoral and swamp forests, tropical semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forests, and sub-tropical pine forests. Tropical dry deciduous forests had the highest net weight % removal of PM with 39% removal for PM 2.5 and 39% removal for PM 10 . The air pollution abatement service by forests for PM removal was 188 M US dollars (USD) with externality-based removal service by forests of 2009 M USD. The net PM removed by all forests of India was estimated to be approximately worth ₹ 470–648 Crore (59–81 million dollars) for PM 2.5 and worth ₹56,746–1,22,617 Crore (7093–15,327 million dollars) for PM 10 based on valuation using value transfer method. The study concludes that forests can be a significant contributor to PM reduction at a global level. Especially for India’s National Clean Air Programme and further research and policy considerations, the findings would be extremely useful.