Tackling the atmospheric “brown cloud”

 The atmospheric brown cloud is a layer of air pollution that recurrently covers, for example, parts of South Asia, namely the northern Indian Ocean, India and Pakistan


Viewed from satellite photos, the cloud appears as a giant brown stain hanging in the air
over much of South Asia and the Indian Ocean every year between January and March.
Atmospheric brown clouds are created by a range of airborne particles and pollutants from
combustion (e.g. wood fires, cars and factories), biomass burning and industrial processes.
At the regional level, the joint UNEP and Asian Institute of Technology project
– Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC) – assesses the impact of these clouds on human health,
hydrology and agriculture. The project has increased understanding of the impacts of air
pollution on climate in South Asia. As a component of ABC, Project Surya in India aims to
mitigate the regional and global impacts of anthropogenic climate change by immediately
and demonstrably reducing atmospheric concentrations of black carbon, methane and
ozone through deploying inexpensive solar and other energy efficient cookers in rural India.
Producing cleaner bricks for cleaner air
It has been shown that better fuel use in producing bricks for building construction can
significantly reduce air pollution while generating important savings in energy and
greenhouse gas emissions. At present, most global brick production takes place in Asia
(China produces approximately 50% of the world total, followed by India with 10%). The
structure, size and number of production facilities, as well as the type of fuel used, vary from
region to region and even among and within countries. For instance, there are about
100 000 large operating units in India; in Mexico, there are around 20 000 artisanal, nonmechanised
brick kilns, mostly small and medium-sized; in Bangladesh, most of the
6 000 units are old, large-scale kilns with fixed chimneys. Several local and regional projects
supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) are focusing on improving the energy efficiency of brick production.