INSIGHT: Why air pollution more costly, threatening today

Dar es Salaaam. A popular quote on the effects of congestion on Dar es Salaam’s roads notes that the major city loses about Sh4 trillion a day in traffic jams. This has been computed from the time wasted by people stranded as well as the fuel consumed by cars.

It is unfortunate that this loss has not included air pollution and its effects. If this were taken into account, loses from traffic jams would have been more than what has been computed.

Many people are oblivious of the effects of air pollution because it is something, which cannot be detected or seen immediately. But, one can go for days without food and or water. But you cannot last for few minutes without air. This means inhaling clean air is more important than what many of us think.

But it is unfortunate that we tend to disregard for air pollution debate for if we did we would have addressed the problem, which is affecting many people without realising it. One example is an oversight of our technocrats to include air pollution in Dar es Salaam’s road congestion costs. But during a budget debate last year, Members of Parliament (MPs) refused the idea by the government to alter the dumping fee of imported vehicles.

The government proposed that the age of vehicles, which should not be subjected to the dumping fee be reduced from 10 to eight years. MPs refused this proposal. Little did they know that the people they were defending – poor Tanzanians, who cannot afford vehicles with short life since their manufacture – are the same people being affected by air pollution from aging vehicles they manage to import!

In addition to the cost of human lives, experts say air pollution is accountable for losses amounting to 2.7 per cent of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP). This is a colossal amount of money, which should have been used for other uses to alleviate the lives of millions of Africans living in abject poverty.

A study on how much the country loses from air pollution has not been published in Tanzania – most probably it has not been conducted in Tanzania. But a recent University of Nairobi study indicates that the leading economy in East Africa has been experiencing economic loss due to emissions to a tune of KSh115 billion ($1.3 million) annually. Researchers have established that vehicular and industrial emissions are the major cause of air pollution.

On the other hand, a new World Bank report, Clean Air and Healthy Lungs: Enhancing the World Bank’s Approach to Air Quality Management, shows that one in seven deaths in the world is pollution-related.

Other reports show that air pollution is responsible for about 49,000 premature deaths annually.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), indoor use of solid fuels has been found to be a major factor. Estimates show it being responsible for eight times this value and the main burden being borne by sub-Saharan African countries.

Presenting a paper during a workshop organised by Kenya’s Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (Mesha – Kenya),

Prof Shem Wandiga of the University of Nairobi, told a group of African journalists that air pollution – indoor and outdoor – affected the health and life chances of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa every day.

“There is a link between air pollution and poverty since poor people are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollutants and tend to suffer disproportionately from the effects of deteriorating air quality,” said the professor of Chemistry.

He pointed out that children in cities exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants would more often develop respiratory ailments, which prevented them from developing and learning well. Consequently, they will suffer in adult life from low qualification and skill levels.

“The implication of poorly educated children is not only a reduction in the quality of their lives, but also an obstacle for the economic development of a country as a whole,” he clarified.

Deficiency policies

To a great extent, problems related to air pollution in many African countries are attributed to poor policies. As noted earlier, many African governments do not give the environment and, in particular air pollution, the much deserving attention in their plans.

Mr Nzioka John Muthama, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, told the journalists, who were attending the first India-Africa dialogue and media briefing on air quality and mobility, that good policies were central to reducing health impacts of ambient air pollution.

One such policy, which is used to control air pollution from vehicles, is strict regulations on the age of imported cars. But, in every budget session, MPs reject any plan by the government to introduce such measures. 

In some instances, policies are available, but having them only is not helpful. It depends on how they are enforced, but this is what is missing, thus making available policies useless.

Reducing public health impacts of ambient air pollution requires addressing the main sources of air pollution, including inefficient fossil fuel combustion from motor vehicle transport, power generation and improving energy efficiency in homes, buildings and manufacturing plants.

As stated above, there has not been a reliable air pollution study in the country. This means that the country has no reliable data and information on this issue. As a result, most of government plans are not informed of the real situation, thus falling short in coming up with lasting solutions to the problem.

There is a need for local experts to help the government in this. They should take immediate action and conduct a study on air pollution and come up with reliable data and information, which will help the government in its planning.

Equipped with such data and information, it will be easy for decision makers and other stakeholders to agree on what should be done to deal with the growing problem.

If Tanzania continues to rely on foreign countries for data and information on its pollution rates and status, it will not be able to come up with good remedial measures.

It is importance to conduct this study because doing so will safeguard people’s health. Everybody knows that the government spends a lot of money on treating its people, the money that could have been spent on development projects.

Therefore, we should not be afraid of using money to conduct this study because its outcome might help us save a lot financially as well as in preserving lives.

Data on air pollution will also help stakeholders and other people engaged in the transport sector conceptualise the level of the problems allowing them to develop strategies to improve the quality of air as well as to improve road safety such as reducing road congestion.

May be this data will also enlighten the MPs to understand the importance of putting in place stringent regulations to check the importation of aged vehicles.

After that the country should go a step further and train more people on air quality monitoring and standard. These qualified experts will be able to provide proper data on air pollution that will help Tanzania protect its people and the environment

To achieve this, the country needs modern equipment to measure emissions from motor vehicles and monitor air pollution because monitoring helps them observe pollution trends throughout the region and activate emergency control procedures that prevent or alleviate air pollution impacts.