Increased global cropland greening as a response to the unusual reduction in atmospheric PM₂.₅ concentrations during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Publisher: Elsevier Science Ltd Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0320657 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-1298 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00456535 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Chemosphere Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Oxford : Elsevier Science Ltd
Original Publication: Oxford, New York, : Pergamon Press.

COVID-19*/epidemiology ; Particulate Matter*/analysis ; Air Pollution*/statistics & numerical data ; Air Pollutants*/analysis; India ; Humans ; Environmental Monitoring/methods ; SARS-CoV-2 ; China ; Nigeria ; Agriculture ; Crops, Agricultural ; Pandemics ; Quarantine ; Europe

The devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic have widely affected human lives and economy across the globe. There were significant changes in the global environmental conditions in response to the lockdown (LD) restrictions made due to COVID-19. The direct impact of LD on environment is analysed widely across the latitudes, but its secondary effect remains largely unexplored. Therefore, we examine the changes in particulate matter (PM₂.₅) during LD, and its impact on the global croplands. Our analysis finds that there is a substantial decline in the global PM₂.₅ concentrations during LD (2020) compared to pre-lockdown (PreLD: 2017-2019) in India (10-20%), East China (EC, 10%), Western Europe (WE, 10%) and Nigeria (10%), which are also the cropland dominated regions. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the decline in PM₂.₅ positively affects the cropland greening when the influence of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture are limited. Croplands in India, EC, Nigeria and WE became more greener as a result of the improvement in air quality by the reduction in particulates such as PM₂.₅ during LD, with an increase in the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) of about 0.05-0.1, 0.05, 0.05 and 0.05-0.1, respectively. As a result of cropland greening, increase in the total above ground biomass production (TAGP) and crop yield (TWSO) is also found in EC, India and Europe. In addition, the improvement in PM₂.₅ pollution and associated changes in meteorology also influenced the cropland phenology, where the crop development stage has prolonged in India for wet-rice (1-20%) and maize (1-10%). Therefore, this study sheds light on the response of global croplands to LD-induced improvements in PM₂.₅ pollution. These finding have implications for addressing issues of air pollution, global warming, climate change, environmental conservation and food security to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Keywords: COVID-19; Climate change; Cropland greening; Enhanced vegetation index; PM₂.₅; SDGs

Date Created: 20240427 Date Completed: 20240521 Latest Revision: 20240521

20240521

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142147

38677610