- This initiative aims to enhance the understanding of air pollution in the city, particularly its temporal and spatial variations caused by waste burning and public transportation.
The Principal Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry, Festus Ngeno, has officiated the launch of new regulatory air quality monitoring sites at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Nairobi.
This initiative aims to enhance the understanding of air pollution in the city, particularly its temporal and spatial variations caused by waste burning and public transportation.
The pilot project will monitor key pollutants, including particulate matter, black carbon, and various weather parameters.
“The World Health Organization reports 3.8 million premature deaths annually from non-communicable diseases like stroke, heart disease, and COPD due to household air pollution,” Ngeno noted.
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He emphasized that air pollution in Africa caused 400,000 premature deaths in 2019, with indoor pollution alone contributing to over one million deaths. “Kenya, particularly Nairobi, is experiencing severe health impacts from air pollution. These sites will provide critical data on local air pollution sources in Nairobi,” he added.
Mamo B. Mamo, the Director General of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), highlighted the ongoing efforts to regulate air quality.
“NEMA has been implementing air quality regulations since 2014. To enhance the Authority's capacity to address air pollution, we have collaborated with partners like UNEP and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to improve our capabilities nationwide,” Mamo stated.
He further announced plans for NEMA to gazette guidelines aimed at enforcing air emission testing from mobile sources, which are a major contributor to pollution in the region.
