Influence of country development levels and agricultural burning policies on global cropland biomass burning observed from satellites Environmental Research Letters

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from biomass burning, including cropland fires, are a critical component affecting climate change. However, the long-term variations in GHGs from cropland biomass-burning emissions (CBBEs) remain unclear across the world’s countries. Here, we used satellite observations of CBBE of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), both GHGs, to examine the emission trends from 2003 to 2023 and analyze the causes across 139 agriculture-producing countries. The global CO2 and CH4 emissions from CBBE are decreasing at rates of −8.21 Mt CO2 and −1.55 10−2 Mt CH4 per year, respectively. However, these emissions are increasing significantly (P < 0.05) in eight countries, mainly in South and East Asia. The CBBE was strongly correlated to the human development levels (indicated by the Human Development Index, HDI) of the countries, resulting in overall higher unit area CBBE in low-medium HDI countries and lower unit area CBBE in high-very high HDI countries. In 13 countries, variations in CBBE are associated with changes in the crop residue from productivity. However, there is also a strong variation in CBBE associated with the regulation of agricultural fires, where appropriate agricultural residue management policies have effectively reversed the increasing CBBE trends in some countries. Grant no. NA19NES4320002 Grant no. NA24NESX432C0001