Abstract

RODRIGUEZ-TREJO, D. A.; TCHIKOUE-MAGA, H.  and  SANTILLAN-PEREZ, J.. EMISSIONS OF CONTAMINANTS DURING THE 2003 FOREST FIRE SEASON IN MEXICO. Rev. Chapingo ser. cienc. for. ambient [online]. 2007, vol.13, n.1, pp.33-39. ISSN 2007-4018.

The emission of pollutants by forest fires and agricultural burns, contributes to the air contamination and global climatic change. In the former, yields incidences of respiratory and allergic illnesses, among others, particularly among elders and children. The smoke also contains toxic agents and potentially carcinogen elements. In the later, CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas. The information of smoke emissions in Mexico is very scarce, and this sort of information is very variable in the international scenario. Because of that, the objective of this work was to estimate the emissions of seven pollutants: NO, NO2, CO, SO2, CO2, HC and particulate matter <10ì nationwide during the 2003 fire season. Also was estimated the surface that was not affected by fires thanks to the firefighting activity, and the emissions prevented. The affected area (official CONAFOR data) and the prevented area (discounting in this last the affected area), were multiplied by the forest fuels load for each type of major ecosystem (perennifolious and subperennifolious tropical forest, caducifolious tropical forest, shrublands, conifer forests, broad leaf forests, grasslands), and by a consumption factor for each ecosystem type and type of forest fire. In the case of subterraneous fires was considered the consumption of part of the soil organic matter. The result was multiplied by the emission factor of each contaminant. The avoided surfaces were obtained ith GIS, considering the presence of natural and artificial barriers to the fire. The total emission for the country was 6,156,196 t, and the prevented emissions equaled 131,249,780 t. Presently, the public health is another criteria to be considered in the fire management policies.

Keywords : fire; pollution; smokes; global climatic change; carbon dioxide.

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