IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION AND
PROGRESS MADE BY THE REGION TO
REDUCE AIR POLLUTION
Mrs. Kezia Mbwambo
Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS)
Morogoro/Sam Nujoma Roads,Ubungo
P.o Box 9524,Dar es Salaam
[email protected]
Outline
Major sources of Air Pollution
Magnitude of the Problem
Impacts of Air Pollution
Progress made to reduce urban air
pollution
Identified gaps and challenges
Way forward
2
Major Sources of Air Pollution
Air pollution is a growing problem in both rural
and urban areas in the region.
Major Sources of Air Pollution
¾ Transport sector-Increase of vehicular fleet
– 40% of imported as either second hand or
reconditioned vehicles
¾ Increase in Manufacturing Industries
(cement, steel mills)
¾ Agricultural and livestock activities
pesticides, machinery, manure
–
¾ Mining activities (gaseous emissions, dust)
3
Major Sources of Air Pollution (.…2)
¾Poor waste disposal (open
burning, incineration) – 60%
of SW burnt/buried
¾Biomass burning – fuelwood
account for >90% of the
energy consumed - indoor air
pollution
¾Energy production – thermal
power plants
¾Forest/ bush fires
4
The Magnitude of the Problem
Air pollution is currently not seen as a serious problem
due to the fact that there is inadequate data and
information on the extent/impact of air pollution to inform
the policy makers
However, the limited data available on air quality in
Eastern Africa show that episodes of air pollution are
becoming frequent across the region
For instance, the urban air pollution problem is growing as
economic development drive increases combustion of
fossil fuels for industrial processes and transportation.
5
The Magnitude of the Problem
Traffic jams – time is money
6
The Magnitude of the Problem
Rapid urbanization the world over has brought with it
serious air pollution problems. It is becoming clear that
the pattern of economic growth we are adopting
particularly in Africa is increasingly associated with
environmental pollution .
Increase in human population (fastest urbanisation rates
in the world that will continue)
Urbanisation 1950-2030 (relative growth)
300
world
250
Africa
200
Asia
Europe
150
LAC
100
Northern America
50
Oceania
0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
2030
(2000= 100%)
7
Impact of Pollutant Air Emissions
Air pollutants of concern: Particulate matter (PM),Sulphur dioxides, Nitrogen oxides,Ammonia,
Ozone,VOCs,Metals,Carbon dioxides ,Carbon monoxides, Methane
Health impacts caused by gases, particulates and heavy metals
Environmental effects as acidification, eutrophicationn, global climate change, ecosystem and
material damage
Economic loss due to deaths, low crop yields, corrosion of materials, loss of work days
8
IMPACTS
Air pollution can impair human development
if not prevented and controlled
uman Activities
Energy
Emmission
Air Pollution
Exposure
Impacts
• Particulate
matter
• People
• Vegetation
• Reduced crop
yields
Agriculture
• Sulphur
dioxide
• Acidification
Land
management
• Nitrogen
oxides
• Man-made
materials
Motorised
transport
Industrialisation
Urbanisation
Mining
operations
• Carbon
monoxide
• Carbon dioxide
• Methane
• Animals
• Soils
• Watershed
• Premature
deaths
• Eutrophication
• Reduction of
biodiversity
• Impaired
ecosystems
services
• Ammonia
• Volatile organic
compounds
Costs
9
Increased Risk of Premature Mortality Due To PM2.5 (10μg/m3 )
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
All Causes
Pulmonary
Lung Cancer
2%
1%
0%
50 000 people in Africa die prematurely from outdoor air pollution
exposure annually (WHO recent estimate)
10
Impacts of ozone pollution on crop yield
Wheat grown in air
with all pollution
filtered out
Wheat grown in
ambient, polluted air
Studies have shown the potential for
yield reductions of crops under African
conditions
11
Progress made towards reducing urban air pollution
in Eastern Africa
Eastern African countries are party to several Multilateral Environmental Agreements
that are of relevance to mitigation of air pollution:
¾ The Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
¾ The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its related
Protocols
¾ Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Waste and their Disposal; and
¾ The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
12
Progress made within the region
Energy
¾Examples of electricity generation from solid waste
dump sites
¾Examples of sustainable solar packaging – public
facilities - schools, hospitals
¾Several countries have introduced cleaner energy
sources in industries and households
13
Progress made within the region
Mining
¾ There are incentives and recognition programmes for excellence
This enhances corporate responsibility in environmental protection.
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)inventories
¾ The majority of countries are signatories and are in the process of
reducing POPS
14
Progress made within the region
Air Quality Standard in Tanzania (….1)
Standards are policy tools for ensuring attainment of Policy Objectives
TZS 845: 2005 – Air Quality Specification (Environmental Quality Standard
TZS 846: 2005 – Tolerance Limits of Emissions Discharged to the Air by Cement Factories
(Emission Standard)
EMDC 2 1758: 2005 Air Quality: Vehicular exhaust emission limits (Product standard)
TZS 836: 2004 Air quality: General Consideration - Part 1: Vocabulary
TZS 836: 2004 Air quality: General Consideration - Part 2: Particle size fraction definition for
health related sampling
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 1: Gudelines for planning the
sampling of atmospheric and location of monitoring stations
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 2: Sampling of gaseous
pollutants
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 3: Stationary source emissions Manual determination of mass concentration of particulate matter
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 4: Stationary source emissions Determination of mass concentration of sulfur dioxide - Hydrogen peroxide/barium
percolate/thorium method
15
Progress made within the region
Air Quality Standard in Tanzania(….2)
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 5: Stationary source emissions Determination of mass concentration of nitrogen oxides - Naphthyethediamine photometric method
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 6: Stationary source emissions Determination of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen. Performance chacteristics and
calibration of automated measuring systems.
TZS 837: 2004 Air quality: Sampling and test methods - Part 7: Stationary source emissions Determination of gas and particle - phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - sample preparation, cleanup and determination
TZS 845: 2006 Air Quality Specification
TZS 846: 2004 Air Quality: Tolerance limits of emission discharged to the air by cement factories
TZS 847: 2004 Air Quality: Guidelines of emissions discharged to the air by cement factories
EMDC 2 1817: 2006 Air Quality: Stationary source emission - Guidelines for online gas analyzer
TZS 931:2006 Protection against ionizing radiation –Limits for occupational exposure
TZS 932:2006 General Tolerance Limits for Environmental Noise
16
Progress made, Tanzania example (.…1)
Cleaner Production Initiative
¾ The promotion of cleaner production technologies and
techniques in industries begun in 1994 (Cleaner
Production Centre of Tanzania) - information
dissemination,
training,
demonstration
and
assessments in various enterprises in the country. A
total of more than 69 industries have benefited.
Air Quality Monitoring Capacity Building Project – Dar es
Salaam City
¾ The project begun in 2004 up to December 2007 with
assistance from USEPA/UNEP. The Project offered
training and air quality monitoring equipment (6
monitoring stations)
17
Progress made, Tanzania example(.…2)
Sustainable Cities Programme – now Urban Development
and Environment Management Programme
¾Raised understanding of Local Government Authorities
in planning and integrating environmental management
in their development plans
Modern mass transit public transport – Dar es Salaam City
(2009+)
¾Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit Agency (DART) is in the
final stages of implementing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
Project that will improve public transport services and
reduce associated air emissions.
18
Progress made, Tanzania example(.…3)
Transport sector
¾ Phasing out of leaded fuel in 2005
¾Use reduced sulphur fuel underway
¾Initial use (testing) of natural gas in few vehicles
Energy
¾A total of 16 industries have switched to natural gas from
Songosongo including a cement factory (TPCC)
¾Electricity generation from solid waste dump site (2008+)
¾Biofuel production facility to be established in
Sumbawanga
¾Briquette making from rice husks and saw dust
¾Sustainable solar packaging – public facilities - schools,
19
hospitals
Promotion of improved cooking stoves reduces indoor air pollution
e.g. Improved cooking stoves
1 USD
8 USD
20 USD
20
Common and shared urban air pollution
.
(Nairobi Agreement-2008) 11 countries – Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda
The Ministers identified issues of common interest on urban air
quality issues in the region for which they wanted to develop
actionable targets to address air pollution as a basis for a
regional agreement. These include:
Air pollution from transportation
Industry and mining
Waste management
Vegetation Fires
Urban planning and Management
Open burning
Indoor air pollution
Other focus areas include
air quality monitoring and
public outreach
21
Identified Gaps and Challenges (.…1)
• Weak regulatory regime - Environmental Management Acts exist in
the region but relevant regulations are yet to be formulated/finalised
• Limited institutional capacity and technical infrastructure such as
funding, equipment and human resource
• Very limited information and data
- No systematic quantitative assessments of the magnitude of the air
quality problem
- Data currently available can be influenced by variations in
methodologies, equipment used, sampling sites, and expertise in air
monitoring
22
Identified Gaps and challenges(.…2)
• Low public awareness on the air pollution problems and
associated adverse effects to human health and the
environment
• Rapid growth of rural and urban population coupled with
poor urban planning lead to congestion and air pollution
problems
• Inadequate institutional coordination and collaboration
leading to lack of common strategies
23
W AYFORWARD
Develop Air Quality Management Strategy and Action Plan
Promote public awareness and education
Promote energy conservation and renewable energy sources
Improve waste management
Improve public transport
Promote cleaner production techniques and technologies
24
Need to work together as each one’s
‘ Action Counts in Environmental Conservation’
Thank you for your kind attention
25