Dirty air is the second leading cause of death in Africa, after HIV/AIDS.
According
to Clean Air Fund, a philanthropic initiative tackling global air pollution, the
rate of exposure to dirty air is increasing with urbanization and slums.
The
burning of fossil fuel, poor management of organic waste, poor public transport
systems, unsustainable agricultural practices and inefficient household energy use
are contributing to dirty air.
The most vulnerable people are
always hardest hit. Improvements in air
quality would help to prevent the 1.2 million deaths resulting from exposure to
fossil fuel-derived air pollution in 2020 alone.
Findings from the Climate and
Clean Air Coalition’s Africa integrated
assessment on air
pollution and climate change – released during COP27 – have shown that by
prioritising air pollution along with climate change solutions, governments
could unlock a raft of health, environmental and economic benefits for their
citizens.
Ghana
Country Lead at Clean Air Fund, Desmond Appiah, observed the level at which
non-communicable diseases are increasing is astronomical. These diseases include
diabetes, lung and heart conditions.
He
therefore believes it has become imperative to highlight climate change issues from
the heath perspective.
“The
sources of greenhouse gas emissions are virtually the same as sources of air
pollution. However, the advantage we have is that if we invest in air pollution
prevention, we get the whole benefit of improvement in health,” Desmond noted.
Governments are therefore to
recognise an economic opportunity to use action on clean air as a catalyst for
sustainable growth, which also helps mitigate and adapt to climate
change.
The fossil fuel
phenomenon
The
burning of oil, gas, and coal causes 7 million premature deaths a year around
the world through the bad air that people must breathe. The burden falls mostly
on the poor.
Both air pollution and climate
change are mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, so many of the solutions are
the same.
The State of Global Air Quality
Funding Report 2022 indicates governments, banks and donor agencies committed 36 times more money to fossil fuel –prolonging
projects in Africa than clean air measures in 2015-2021.
A new report by the World Bank
indicates trillions of dollars are wasted on subsidies for agriculture, fishing
and fossil fuels that could be used to help address climate change instead of
harming people and the planet.
The
report, Detox Development:
Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies, notes that
government subsidies of $577 billion in 2021 to artificially lower the price of
polluting fuels, such as oil, gas, and coal, exacerbate climate change, and
cause toxic air pollution, inequality, inefficiency, and mounting debt burdens.
Redirecting
these subsidies could unlock at least half a trillion dollars towards more
productive and sustainable uses.
“With foresight and planning,
repurposing subsidies can provide more resources to give people a better quality of life and to ensure a better future for our planet,” said Richard Damania, Chief Economist
of the Sustainable Development Practice
Group at the World Bank.
Toxic air disproportionately
affects the most vulnerable, so addressing it will reduce health inequalities.
And because it severely hampers productivity, cognitive performance and
wellbeing, initiatives that clean the air will provide economic benefits.
Desmond Appiah emphasized the need
to invest in clean air solutions to drive sustainable development.
“We need pathways to healthy and sustainable
development, which will decrease damage to health, improve economic and
social impacts, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
By Kofi Adu Domfeh
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