WMO: Sand and dust storms affect 330 million people in 150 countries
By the Climate Centre
Sand and dust storms are exacting an increasing toll on human health and economies, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization that underlines the need for “continued improvements in monitoring, forecasting and early warnings”.
The 2025 annual WMO Airborne Dust Bulletin, its ninth, says these hazards now affect 330 million people in at least 150 countries.
“Every year, around 2,000 million tons of sand and dust enters the atmosphere – equivalent to 307 Great Pyramids of Giza,” the WMO says.
“More than 80 per cent of [global dust] originates from the North African and Middle Eastern deserts and can be transported for hundreds and even thousands of kilometres across continents and oceans.
“Much of this is a natural process, but poor water and land management, drought and environmental degradation are increasingly to blame.”
‘Dust equivalent to 307 Great Pyramids of Giza’
In the southern hemisphere, concentrations were highest in central Australia and the west coast of South Africa.
The regions most vulnerable to dust from afar are the northern tropical Atlantic, South America, the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and central-eastern China.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said today: “This bulletin shows how health risks and economic costs are rising – and how investments in dust early warnings and mitigation and control would reap large returns.”
Burkina Faso-based Climate Centre scientist Kiswendsida Guigma adds: “Beyond the immediate dangers of reduced visibility and disrupted infrastructure, airborne dust has hidden but profound humanitarian impacts.
”It aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, and in parts of the Sahel there is strong evidence linking exposure to dust with meningitis. With climate change, intensified land degradation, and especially uncontrolled urban growth, these risks are set to grow.”
The WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System coordinates international sand and dust research and has operational regional centres.
The report was released to coincide with the International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms on 12 July.
A young Burkinan protects himself from the choking dust with a makeshift mask, ironically made from a cigarette packet. Dust is thought to cause lesions in the mucosal cavities allowing meningicoccal bacteria to enter the bloodstream. (Marko Kokic/IFRC)