Mitigation potential of global ammonia emissions and related health impacts in the trade network.

Ma, Rong; Li, Ke; Guo, Yixin; Zhang, Bo; Zhao, Xueli; Linder, Soeren; Guan, ChengHe; Chen, Guoqian et al. · Nat Commun · 2021

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Abstract

Ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) emissions, mainly from agricultural sources, generate substantial health damage due to the adverse effects on air quality. NH<sub>3</sub> emission reduction strategies are still far from being effective. In particular, a growing trade network in this era of globalization offers untapped emission mitigation potential that has been overlooked. Here we show that about one-fourth of global agricultural NH<sub>3</sub> emissions in 2012 are trade-related. Globally they induce 61 thousand PM<sub>2.5</sub>-related premature mortalities, with 25 thousand deaths associated with crop cultivation and 36 thousand deaths with livestock production. The trade-related health damage network is regionally integrated and can be characterized by three trading communities. Thus, effective cooperation within trade-dependent communities will achieve considerable NH<sub>3</sub> emission reductions allowed by technological advancements and trade structure adjustments. Identification of regional communities from network analysis offers a new perspective on addressing NH<sub>3</sub> emissions and is also applicable to agricultural greenhouse gas emissions mitigation.

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