Falling visibility in three major African cities reveals that air pollution has increased significantly over the last 45 years – leaving citizens facing further short-term increases in man-made pollution due to increasing urbanization and economic development, a new study reveals.
Falling visibility in three major African cities reveals that air pollution has increased significantly over the last 45 years – leaving citizens facing further short-term increases in man-made pollution due to increasing urbanization and economic development, a new study reveals.
Africa is not well-equipped with air quality monitoring, so scientists have used visibility data for capital cities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda as a substitute measurement.
They discovered a significant reduction in visibility since the 1970s, where Nairobi shows the greatest loss (60%), compared to Kampala (56%) and Addis Ababa (34%) - due to increased particulate matter (PM) emissions from vehicles and energy generation.
Correspondingly, PM pollution levels in the three cities are estimated to have increased by 182%, 162% and 62% respectively since the 1970s to the current period.
Read more at University Of Birmingham
Image by Erdenebayar Bayansan from Pixabay
