Rising sand and dust storms linked to climate change: UN reports

Climate change already generates increasingly intense and persistent sand and dust storms. This problem “drastically” increases in some parts of the world, according to a warning from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (CLD). These phenomena inject dust into the atmosphere each year, equivalent to 350 pyramids of Giza.

“The sight of dark clouds of sand and dust enveloping everything in their path and turning day into night is one of nature's most intimidating spectacles,” Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UNCCD, said at the meeting.

“It is a costly phenomenon that wreaks havoc everywhere, from northern and central Asia to sub-Saharan Africa,” he added.

According to Thiaw, sand and dust storms are a serious obstacle to achieving sustainable development and threaten human health.

"He explained that just as human activities exacerbate sand and dust storms, they can also reduce them. UN experts attribute at least 25% of this natural phenomenon to human activities," according to him.

Fluctuations in intensity, magnitude or duration “can make dust and sand storms unpredictable and dangerous.”

As much dust as 350 pyramids

According to the United Nations, due to these phenomena, which cause impacts far beyond the regions of origin, the atmosphere receives 2 billion tons of sand and dust each year, an amount equivalent in weight to 350 pyramids of Giza.

Additionally, in some areas, desert dust has doubled in the last century, according to available data.

Feras Ziadat, technical officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), indicates that sand and dust storms have become increasingly frequent and severe, with substantial transboundary impacts. These storms affect various aspects of the environment, climate, health, agriculture, livelihoods and the socioeconomic well-being of people.

The president of the United Nations Coalition to Combat Sand and Dust Storms, Ziat, warned the storms “damage crops, affect livestock, and destroy topsoil” in the areas they originate from.

Meanwhile, Feras Ziadat adds, “In deposit areas, atmospheric dust can cause or worsen human health problems such as respiratory diseases, especially when combined with local industrial pollution. He also stated that low visibility and dust-induced mechanical failures could affect communications, power generation, transportation and supply chains."

The UNCCD meeting, which will continue until next Friday, includes this Wednesday a day organized by the Government of Uzbekistan on ways to address the impacts of sand and dust storms on agriculture, industry and transport worldwide .

Preferred due to poor water and soil management

A few weeks after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported an increase in sand and dust storms due to desertification and climate change in 2022 compared to 2021, and a rise in the concentrations of these particles in the atmosphere in areas like Spain, South, and Central America, we now know the conclusions of this convention.

The World Meteorological Organization's annual report on particles in the atmosphere notes that these concentrations also increased in the Red Sea, the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian Plateau, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian subcontinent, the Tarim Basin in northwest China or the central Atlantic that separates the Caribbean from West Africa.

"The WMO warns that every year, the atmosphere receives an influx of around 2,000 million tons of dust, which darkens the skies and reduces air quality thousands of kilometres away. This drastically affects economies, ecosystems, and the climate. They also noted the negative impact repetition of this haze has on people's health."

"Although part of this process is natural, according to the UN environmental agency, man's poor management of water and soil also influences it. The agency predicts an increase in these particle concentrations throughout this century, paralleling global warming."

The overexploitation of water resources increasingly favours the desertification of larger areas, increasing land suitable for increased suspended dust.

Regions face sand, dust impact

The report identifies the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, parts of Iran, the Mesopotamian plains of Iraq, eastern Syria, and the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Persian Gulf as places especially affected by high concentrations of sand and dust.

Among others, the Mediterranean basin, South America, or East Asia (including Japan and the Korean Peninsula), as well as the Caribbean, are equally vulnerable areas, as they function as passageways for these particles. West Africa sent sand and dust to the Caribbean in 2022.

"The WMO, with centers in Barcelona (Spain), Beijing, Bridgetown (capital of the Caribbean archipelago of Barbados) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), prepares the report using data from four networks that measure particles in the atmosphere."

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