Varsity partners with experts to reduce air pollution in city

Nairobi residents constantly exposed to inhaling polluted air released by industries and roads clogged by carbon-emitting motor vehicles are set to breathe improved air if a clean air project by a public university succeeds.

 The Clean Air Catalyst Project is a three-year initiative that was set up in August, that seeks to save life and solve environmental problems caused by air pollution in order to improve peoples’ lives and ensure nature thrives.

 Juja-based Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is partnering in the initiative with the Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology (IEET) together with the World Resource Institute (WRI) in a three-year clean air flagship project for Nairobi city.

 The objective of the partnership is to develop and implement globally applicable approaches as well as advance locally tailored, sustainable solutions for clean air to improve human health and climate change mitigation in cities.

Economic growth

 Studies by the University of Nairobi indicate a quarter of the world population is exposed to unhealthy concentrations of air pollutants that causes adverse health effects in humans inhaling them leading to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

 As the fastest urbanising continent, risks to air pollution in African cities is likely to increase in line with economic growth. In 2019, an estimated 1.1 million people across Africa died because of air pollution.

 The City of Nairobi with an estimated population of 4.9 million, is rapidly growing and subjected to high exposure risk of ambient air pollution from anthropogenic factors.

 Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs, Prof Robert Kinyua, citing the World Health Organization (WHO) said, “air pollution is responsible for over 6 million deaths globally due to its dire consequences namely, lung cancer, respiratory infections among others.”

The ministry of environment organised a meeting of air quality scientists held in Naivasha that was attended by the then principal secretary for environment, Charles Sunkuli and the director climate change programme, Dr Pacifica Ogola. At the forum, it was revealed over 5million Kenyans living in major cities and towns are directly exposed to toxic emissions.

 These are mainly from motor vehicles, industries, use of traditional fuels and kerosene used for cooking and heating. Indiscriminate burning of solid waste also causes air pollution.

 Air pollution causes death and increased illnesses such as respiratory ailments, heart conditions, brain damage and cancers. It is estimated that 14,300 Kenyans die annually due to conditions attributed to air pollution. Pollution also affects plants and agricultural yields.

Global expertise

 ‘In several cities around the world, people have to wear breathing masks quality management and coordination to protect themselves from pollution, said Sunkuli.

 He stated: “Masks have become part of their wardrobes. We do not want this country to go down that road. We want to make sure every breathe we take matters”, said Sunkuli, when he officially opened the workshop on air pollution.

 Prof Kinyua said that the academia has a big responsibility to share with people the knowledge they have through proper utilisation to save millions of lives.

 “We are facing a major challenge due to pollution. More people may face adverse health problems in the future if nothing is done to curb air pollution. We must use the knowledge we have to solve problems and save lives,” he added.

 The Clean Air Catalyst project brings together diverse local stakeholders while leveraging global expertise to strengthen awareness on the root causes of air pollution and accelerate implementation of targeted solutions for emission reductions.

 Speaking during the event at JKUAT, the Head of Air Quality in Africa at WRI, Dr George Mwaniki, alluded that the CAC project in Nairobi City County is not only intended to address air quality problems but also bridge the data gaps and conduct source sharing.

 “The three-year project will map sources, create inventories as well as develop a-one -stop point where all air quality data can be accessed,” he stated.

 The Head of Research and Working Group for the three years, Dr Paul Njogu, a Senior Researcher at IEET, has put together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers drawn from various JKUAT departments to ensure that their research output is not just concrete but top-notch.

 Dr Mwaniki further said, “The project will benefit students and the university at large. It will equip JKUAT in areas of air research, offer courses in air pollution and atmospheric sciences, both at undergraduate and postgraduate as well as scholarships for PhD and Masters students, offer attachment and internship to JKUAT students,” he explained.

 The quality of human life is closely associated with the ecosystem in which they live. Air pollutants adversely affect the air we breathe in. In fact, the air we breathe in the cities is poisoned. The problem with air pollution is that it cannot be bought like purified water and we can therefore not escape from it.

 Sunkuli said the Ministry was in the process of forming an Inter- Ministerial Task force on Testing and Licensing of Emissions in the sector.  The goal of the task force will be to work on modalities and procedures for emission testing for land, air, and sea based transport.

Urban researcher

 He reiterated the government’s commitment to reduce air pollution levels in the country adding that a National Air Quality Management and Coordination Strategy will be developed to address this.

 Marie Thynell, an urban researcher at Sweden’s Gothenburg University who led a study of Nairobi pollution in 2015, obsrved that the number of cancer-causing elements in the air within the city is 10 times higher than the threshold recommended by the World Health Organisation.

 Michael Gatari, an environmental scientist at the Kenyan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, predicts the country will have “a very sick population in years to come.

 Main sources of air pollution in Kenya include traffic, roadside rubbish fires, road dust, industry and the use of solid fuels such as charcoal and wood to cook in open fires and leaky stoves (indoor air pollution).