Against the backdrop of the Africa Union Climate Action Summit and Africa Climate Week, Nairobi hosted the UN Environment Programme’s fourth annual International Clean Air Day for blue skies event with H.E. Governor Sakaja Johnson on September 7th, 2023. This year’s theme is Together for Clean Air, focusing on the need for strong partnerships, increased investment and shared responsibility to overcome air pollution.
Air pollution is the biggest environmental health risk of our time. Over 99% of people breathe unsafe air. Exposure can lead to stroke, heart and lung diseases, cancer and more. In Africa, air pollution was responsible for over 1 million deaths across the continent in 2019, with ambient air pollution accounting for over 390,000 deaths in that period.
Calling air pollution a silent tragedy, Governor Sakaja unveiled a new mural by Kenyan artist BankSlave depicting the impact road pollution has on the health of Nairobians, especially children, who are among the most vulnerable to air pollution.
“Every single child who misses a day of school or who has a chronic dry cough or who has had to go to the hospital because he or she has breathed in diesel smoke should matter as deeply to us as she does to her own family.”
The mural includes the image of Ella Kissi-Debrah, a British girl who died of an acute asthma attack at age nine. The UK Coroner’s report subsequently ruled that air pollution was a contributing factor to her death because she lived near a busy roadway in London.
“May her memory and the memory of all the young lives cut short by pollution inspire us to keep our children’s air and water clean and the planet safe”
Echoing the theme of the day, Governor Sakaja added: “We cannot walk alone. Strategic planning and engagement with stakeholders and the public is crucial and critical. Nairobi County’s Green Nairobi Sector is operating a five-year operating plan towards attaining the vision to make Nairobi a more vibrant, attractive, sustainable city in partnership with World Resource Institute’s Clean Air Catalyst program, and we are really thankful for the work we have done so far.”
Clean Air Catalyst, a global partnership funded by U.S. Agency for International Development, is supporting the Nairobi City County government (NCCG) in expanding its air quality capabilities to include two regulatory grade air quality monitoring stations, the first it will have in the city. It also founded the Nairobi Air Quality Working Group, which the NCCG has joined. The initiative is focused on mainstreaming air quality and climate change actions, particularly in the transport and waste sectors.
At the event. AirQo, a Ugandan-based organization, demonstrated the low-cost sensor network it is rolling out in the city. The 17 sensors will provide additional information to regulators and the public about the state of Nairobi’s air quality. Governor Sakaja said expanding air quality data is part of his government ‘s plan to reduce air pollution in Nairobi:
“We will get the new air quality bill done and presented to our assembly, so we also have a legislative framework for the interventions. We will get the new air quality regulations done and passed, and we will cut emissions, especially from cars and other forms of transport, and you will be able to check on your own devices the quality of air, live, right on our website”
The event also had remarks from Roopa Karia, Environment Office Director for USAID, Kenya and East Africa, emphasized how air pollution an all-encompassing issue which causes and solutions that “overlap, and like climate change, the risks and the health effects of air pollution are not shared equally, which makes it an equity issue, and an environmental justice issue. She reiterated USAID’s commitment to support Nairobi’s government “through the Clean Air Catalyst, with advice from communities, industry, health and business leaders … to better understand the sources of air pollution and prioritize their clean air solutions.”
Wanjira Mathai, Managing Director, Africa and Global Partnerships at WRI focused on Africa’s role in advancing clean air goals for the whole continent, saying. “We are on the cusp of a special new era for climate leadership in Africa by Africans."
She continued by noting the Nairobi Declaration that was signed during World Clean Air Day “gives us a strong basis to ensure air quality is part of what we mean when we say ‘building lasting resilience’, if we don’t make air quality a part of that, we won't have lasting resilience.”
Martina Otto, head of the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, underscored the need to embed clean air criteria into climate action. and vice versa.
“Often the same drivers, the same sources of air pollution are also the ones that cause climate change,” she said. “We can be much more effective with our measures and also our financial means if we actually plan for the multiple benefits.”
She also noted the need for shared partnership.
“We all carry a responsibility. Individually we can take action with our day-to-day decisions. But we also know we have all the solutions. It’s about scaling them up and to scale them up we need to work hand in hand across sector silos and across levels of government.”
Watch the mural being created: