eCite Digital Repository
Unprecedented health costs of smoke-related PM2.5 from the 2019–20 Australian megafires
Citation
Johnston, FH and Borchers-Arriagada, N and Morgan, GG and Jalaludin, B and Palmer, AJ and Williamson, GJ and Bowman, DMJS, Unprecedented health costs of smoke-related PM2.5 from the 2019-20 Australian megafires, Nature Sustainability, (September) pp. 1-12. ISSN 2398-9629 (2020) [Refereed Article]
 | PDF (final author version) 6Mb |
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Springer Nature Limited
DOI: doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00610-5
Abstract
In flammable landscapes around the globe, longer fire seasons with larger, more severely burnt areas are causing social and economic
impacts that are unsustainable. The Australian 2019–20 fire season is emblematic of this trend, burning over 8 million ha
of predominately Eucalyptus forests over a six-month period. We calculated the wildfire-smoke-related health burden and costs
in Australia for the most recent 20 fire seasons and found that the 2019–20 season was a major anomaly in the recent record,
with smoke-related health costs of AU$1.95 billion. These were driven largely by an estimated 429 smoke-related premature
deaths in addition to 3,230 hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory disorders and 1,523 emergency attendances
for asthma. The total cost was well above the next highest estimate of AU$566 million in 2002–03 and more than nine times
the median annual wildfire associated costs for the previous 19 years of AU$211 million. There are substantial economic costs
attributable to wildfire smoke and the potential for dramatic increases in this burden as the frequency and intensity of wildfires
increase with a hotter climate.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | fire smoke, pm2.5, health impacts, economic analysis |
| Research Division: | Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Health services and systems |
| Research Field: | Health services and systems not elsewhere classified |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Public health (excl. specific population health) |
| Objective Field: | Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Johnston, FH (Professor Fay Johnston) |
| UTAS Author: | Borchers-Arriagada, N (Mr Nicolas Borchers Arriagada) |
| UTAS Author: | Palmer, AJ (Professor Andrew Palmer) |
| UTAS Author: | Williamson, GJ (Dr Grant Williamson) |
| UTAS Author: | Bowman, DMJS (Professor David Bowman) |
| ID Code: | 141068 |
| Year Published: | 2020 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 78 |
| Deposited By: | Menzies Institute for Medical Research |
| Deposited On: | 2020-09-22 |
| Last Modified: | 2020-10-09 |
| Downloads: | 31 View Download Statistics |
Repository Staff Only: item control page