Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Sifelani Tsiko
26 August 2007
opinion
Harare — AFRICAN countries must take urgent steps to address problems of transboundary air pollution which are having a negative impact on health, ecosystems, biodiversity, crops and infrastructure materials, environmental research experts say.
Environmental research experts who attended the second Air Pollution Information Network Africa (APINA) national stakeholders dialogue held on August 22, say African countries must move with speed to adopt protocols on the control of transboundary air pollution to enhance air quality on the continent.
"The economic consequences of air pollution (e.g. increased expenses of health services, damaged ecosystems that sustain the economy and reduced productivity from workers with pollution-related illnesses) makes it clear that it is cost-effective to timely redress the air pollution problems," said a University of Zimbabwe environmental researcher.
Professor Sara Feresu, director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the UZ and co-ordinator of APINA, said African countries must take advice on air pollution from experts seriously so as to develop specific regulations of controlling air pollution.
"We are there to influence policy by talking about air pollution and feeding this information to policymakers," she said.
"It is our hope that this will help policymakers develop sound policies on air pollution. Our thrust is to help policymakers to come up with a Regional Protocol on Air Pollution."
APINA is a network of scientists, policymakers, industrialists, civil society and other stakeholders who are engaged in activities on air pollution assessment, impact assessment and control mechanisms.
At least seven countries participate in APINA programmes. These are Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The APINA programme has been running since 1997. Activities in the first phase of the programme centred on developing databases of previous work done on air pollution in Southern Africa and of experts on air pollution in the region.
The second phase focused on the preparation of country status reports and studies on impacts of air pollution in Southern Africa.
Prof. Feresu said the idea behind these activities was to understand the extent of air pollution problems in Southern Africa and identify regional needs on air pollution issues and the individuals and institutions that could participate in capacity building activities.
She said phase three of APINA that spans from 2005 to 2008 aims to engage governments in the region to formulate a Regional Protocol on Air Pollution and identify environment ministry officials as focal points for channelling APINA scientific findings which enable policymakers to make informed decisions and develop better policies on air pollution issues.
In the third phase, Prof Feresu said, APINA will strive to enhance international co-operation on air pollution issues with the United Nations Environmental Programme, multilateral institutions and other partners.
"The main function of APINA is to form a strong link between the air pollution scientific experts and business community and policymakers at national and regional levels," she said.
"Thus APINA acts as a conduit of knowledge derived from scientific programmes to influence policy decisions on matters of air pollution." APINA is part of the Regional Air Pollution Network in developing countries that operates in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia.
Most of its activities are funded by the Swedish International Development Agency.
Prof Feresu said the main purpose of this regional network was to facilitate the development of agreements and protocols to implement measures that prevent and control air pollution through promoting international co-operation and developing scientific information for the policy process.
"This is because the development of regional agreements on air pollution can act as a powerful stimulus for progress in developing air pollution prevention and control strategies within countries and across whole regions," she said.
This, she said, allowed for transboundary issues to be tackled and for the development of coherent policies across regions that can solve some of the local or national scale problems.
"We want to move from a situation where countries are setting up air pollution policies in isolation to one where the policy development is regionally co-ordinated," Prof Feresu said.
This, she said, requires a framework within which countries can develop such arrangements.
The major thrust of APINA is to help:
Develop a framework for regional co-operation;
Activities that build the capacity and supply the methods to develop the scientific knowledge about air pollution from local to regional scales and its potential transboundary impact;
Results showing the extent of regional air pollution, transboundary transport and associated impact;
An intergovernmental process by which agreements and protocols can be developed on the basis of proven need regarding shared and/or transboundary air pollution problems;
Regional policy development with national and regional commitments;
APINA has so far held two policy dialogues. The first was in Harare in 1998 and came up with the Harare Resolution on Prevention and Control of Regional Air Pollution in Southern Africa and its Transboundary Effects.
The resolution guided APINA activities between 1998 and 2003, which focused on developing databases on previous work done on air pollution in Southern Africa and that of experts on air pollution in the region.
The second Regional Policy Dialogue was held in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003. The meeting came up with the Maputo Declaration that aimed to engage governments in APINA activities.
At the dialogue held recently, environmentalists highlighted a number of challenges that, they said, were hampering air pollution programmes.
Barnabus Chipindu of the UZ said the development of a regional protocol on air pollution has suffered from inadequate information on impacts of air pollution, control and mitigation measures as well as cost-benefit analyses.
Godfrey Dombo, also from the UZ, presented a paper on the impacts of air pollution on corrosion of materials.
He said air pollution accelerated the rate of corrosion of metals and that in Harare sulphur dioxide was causing considerable damage to carbon steel.
He said the assessment of economic losses remains outstanding and local funding was needed to sustain and advance knowledge on material corrosion.
In all the seven APINA countries the major sources of air pollution are:
Common problems faced by member countries include:
Other challenges include limited knowledge and literature on the health impacts of air pollution in the region to feed into the policymaking process and raise civic society awareness.
Impacts such as respiratory illnesses have been observed in people exposed to high levels of air pollution but experts say the magnitude of the impact is not fully understood particularly indoor pollution.
Despite the challenges, APINA is an important starting point that will help strengthen knowledge on the impact of air pollution on crops, health, biodiversity, ecology and infrastructure.
Most developing countries do not produce ozone-depleting substances as they depend on imports from Europe and Asia. Emissions from rich countries are the major causes of climate change.
These countries must scale up efforts to assist developing countries come up with policies that address problems of air pollution.
Apart from this, other experts at the just-ended APINA dialogue said there is need to combine improvements in the public transportation system with regulations and incentives to encourage the use of alternatives such as walking, cycling and telecommuting.
They say there is need to tailor policies by socio-economic groups and gender to combat specific polluting behaviour and to educate the public about the impact of air pollution.
Encouraging community involvement in education efforts, they said, is important. Air pollution is leading to global warming which in turn fuels climate change.
And as the economic, political, environmental and social impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent, supporting APINA activities and taking advice from environmental experts is important in tackling challenges related to air pollution.
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