Kenya: We’ve Not Done Enough to Curb Air Pollution

Dirty air from indoor to outdoor pollution is a major environmental and health issue. It is also a policy challenge in both developed and developing countries.

The air pollutant of primary concern for human health is fine particulate matter. This is specifically PM2.5 and PM10. Notably, PM2.5 is believed to be responsible for seven million deaths annually, divided roughly equally between indoor and outdoor exposure.

Eighty per cent of this is in low- and middle-income countries. Most African countries, including Kenya, exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines to protect human health. This should be a major concern. We still have informal settlements where proper ventilation is still wanting, considering the dirty fuel used for cooking.

Most Kenyans still use firewood (biomass) even in the informal settlements in Nairobi to cook. This raises the issue of respiratory diseases. Even when we talk of liquefied gas as an alternative, the prices are still very prohibitive and most Kenyans will still not afford this clean cooking fuel. Improved stoves are also a mirage to many.

Sources of clean energy

When we talk of climate change, we should capture all these aspects. From industrial pollution, emissions from vehicles and homes should not be ignored.

Kenyans are still being encouraged to increase our forest cover that at one time was only at two per cent to the globally agreed level of 10 per cent. Proper forest cover, especially in the urban areas, will act as carbon sinks, thereby taking care of all the carbon monoxide the vehicles we drive around spew daily.

We should also explore other sources of clean energy. Kenya’s big cities have unexploited potential, like the use of methane gas as a cooking alternative. Farmers, especially daily cow keepers, should be encouraged to use biogas and this will save trees in a very big way.

We cannot talk of economic development without addressing environmental issues.

Mr Kigo is an environment officer. [email protected]