The world is not prepared for the sand and dust storms crisis
If you haven’t done it already, it's time to add dust storms to your long list of the worst environmental crises of the 21st century that we are not prepared for.
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Most living Americans are too young to remember the Dust Bowl, a period of severe dust storms in the 1930s as the result of bad farming practices and droughts that damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies. Destructive storms of similar scale have not occurred frequently, but we should be worried, as dust storms are expanding globally in terms of number, strength and geographical coverage.
Why?
Because of deforestation, water mismanagement, bad land use, unsustainable farming, desertification and climate change.
Light dust particles do not recognize geographical and political borders. They can travel long distances, flying freely between states and even continents.
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The health impacts of sand and dust storms are devastating. Many of those exposed to dust — particularly children — suffer from respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases and other health conditions exacerbated by toxic air pollution. Globally, 330 million people are exposed to sand and dust storms on a daily basis. More than 80% of the entire populations of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iran are exposed to medium and high levels of poor air quality due to sand and dust storms. In the Sahara region, dust storms trigger meningitis outbreaks, putting 350 million people at risk.
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Sand and dust storms affect education by forcing school closures and disrupting the education of millions of children around the world. They also impact solar energy generation, reducing labor productivity and household income. These storms threaten the aviation industry, too. Some of today’s major international flight hubs, like Dubai, Istanbul and Doha, are exposed to massive sand and dust storms that reduce visibility and ground flights and disrupt businesses and international supply chains. In 2020, a single Saharan dust canceled 1,000 flights over the Canary Islands, costing over $19 million in only three days. Australia’s Sydney Airport is another internationally known victim of costly flight cancellations and backlogs due to dust storms.
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