DUST and sand storms are plaguing North East Asia nearly five times as often as they were in the 1950s.

The storms that originate in the dry regions of northern China and Mongolia and blow across the Korean peninsula and Japan, are also growing in intensity. Scientists are predicting large storms, as cold air masses from Siberia whip deserts and soils eastward after the dry continental winter.

In April 2002 dust levels in Seoul, 1200 kilometres away from their source, reached 2,070 micrograms per cubic metre, twice the level deemed hazardous to health. The storms cause considerable hardship through lost income, disruption of communications, respiratory problems and related deaths, and loss of livestock and crops over large areas.

Eighty per cent of natural disasters worldwide occur in Asia. Between 1991 and 2001 natural disasters affected over 1.7 million Asians, costing US$369 billion in damages.

Scientists from Korean universities and research institutes said, they are concerned that the sand and dust is binding with airborne pollutants such as soot contained within atmospheric brown clouds.

These are forming over densely populated parts of the world as a result of the burning of wood, charcoal and other so called biomass and the combustion of fossil fuels and industrial processes.

In China nearly 30 per cent of its land area is affected by desertification due to over farming and grazing and cutting of forest, driven by population growth, and changing weather patterns, with annual direct economic losses of around US$6500 million.

GEO states the Gobi Desert in China expanded by 52,400 square kilometres from 1994 to 1999, creeping ever closer to Beijing. Up to 400 million people are under threat from the fast-advancing deserts. The Chinese government has initiated national, regional and local legislation and action plans to address desertification through land use changes and reforestation. Recent scientific reports suggest other desert regions could also be having unexpected effects far from home: dust storms originating in the Sahara are being linked to algal infestation of Caribbean coral reefs, which provide crucial protection for small island developing states (SIDS).— Samina Iqbal