Seasonal Biomass Burning an "Ecological Nightmare"
Each year in the dry season, flames sweep across a large swath of the African countryside, engulfing every kind of grass and woody plant in their way. From October through March in the northern hemisphere and June through November in the southern hemisphere, people torch the land to clear it, remove dead and unwanted vegetation, and drive away grazing animals.
That biomass burning is an ecological nightmare. Whenever these woody materials go up in smoke, small particles called aerosols escape into the atmosphere. The worst offender is black carbon, because it absorbs light so well. Once in the atmosphere, black carbon heats up the air around it, which is bad news for the climate. At least half of the black carbon in the atmosphere comes from biomass burning, and 30 to 50 percent of all biomass burning globally happens in Africa.
Wajahat Mahmood