- The new report shows particulate matter concentration levels are now five to ten levels above WHO’s recommendation.
- Burning biomass fuel for cooking, crude oil exploitation, coal mining industries, and old vehicles from Europe are responsible for the poor air quality in Africa.
A new report in Nature Geoscience has highlighted the challenge of air pollution levels in Africa and why it needs international action to combat it. Over the last 50 years, African nations have suffered from rapidly deteriorating air quality. This made African cities some of the most polluted in the world. Particulate matter concentration levels are now five to ten levels above recommendations by the World Health Organisation. Also, predictions show that the situation might worsen as populations grow and industrialisation accelerates.
However, far too little has been done to combat the dangerous air quality, with just 0.01 per cent of global air pollution funding currently spent in Africa. The new perspective piece from the University of Birmingham, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, South Eastern Kenya University and the African Centre for Clean Air, published on November 7 in Nature Geoscience, argues that tackling this issue requires collective efforts from African countries, regionally tailored solutions, and global collaboration.
Francis Pope, Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Birmingham and one of the co-authors, said, “The burning of biomass fuel for cooking, heating, and lighting, the crude oil exploitation and coal mining industries, and old vehicles shipped in from Europe are all causes for the poor air quality in African nations. This dangerous air can cause complex and sometimes deadly health issues for those breathing it in. If this wasn’t enough reason to tackle this issue, air pollution in Africa is not just a problem for people living on the continent but for the wider world, limiting the ability to meet global climate targets and combat the climate emergency.”