ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors update quantitative estimates of the amounts of biomass burning that is taking place around the world and the resulting gaseous and particulate emissions and discuss their atmospheric-chemical, climatic and ecological consequences. They derive some rough estimates of the quantities of biomass that are burned in the tropics through various activities, such as forest clearing for permanent use for agriculture and ranching, shifting cultivation, removal of dry savanna vegetation and firewood, and agricultural waste burning. In the developing countries, fuelwood and agricultural waste are the dominant energy sources for cooking, domestic heating, and some industrial activities. The budget of Robertson and Rosswall for west African savannas implies that this loss of fixed-N could deplete the fixed-N load of the ecosystems in a few thousand years, a short time in comparison with the period during which humans have been present in Savanna and agricultural ecosystems.
