Designing new policy and technology interventions to mitigate Indian agricultural residue burning impacts considering effects on local agriculture

Project Summary:

1. Will evaluate policy, seeking avenues to combat air pollution caused by routine agricultural burning.
2. Will explore interventions aimed at reducing burning and emissions on the local level.

Agricultural residue burning has been shown to contribute significantly to air pollution in India, including in Indian megacities. However, farmers require this burning as a means to rapidly return nutrients to the soil for the next season, which restricts potential interventions aiming to reduce burning and associated emissions. We propose a combined modeling/fieldwork study to investigate the potential air quality improvements of minimally disruptive interventions, ranging from targeted burning bans to technological solutions. Modeling will focus on policy evaluation, while fieldwork will explore the feasibility of interventions with local governments, NGOs, and community organizers.