The British NGO Clean Air Fund has looked into the situation in four cities which are experiencing rapid growth: Accra, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos.
Le Monde With AFP
Air pollution in African cities is rapidly expanding and more deadly than feared, but ecological solutions could save tens of thousands of lives, according to a study made public Thursday, October 27. “Air pollution is high and it increases fairly quickly,” said Desmond Appiah, the Ghanaian director of Clean Air Fund, the British NGO who published the study: “It is a silent killer.” The urban pollution has been largely neglected in Africa, according to this study.
The African population is mainly rural and has only recently experienced the exodus towards urban centers. Previous research published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health came to the conclusion that toxic air – in particular the particles and industrial gases and transport, but also wood stoves – caused the premature death of 1.1 million people in 2019. By comparison, 650,000 people lost their lives because of HIV-AIDS diseases worldwide the same year, according to UN figures.
The study has looked into the situation in four cities which are rapidly growing – Accra, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – to assess the health, environmental and economic costs of pollution. It compares the results between a “business-asual” trajectory until 2040 and an ecological scenario in which cities would take measures to improve air quality, such as modernization of public transport and the introduction of cooks cleaner.
for “fair and sustainable” growth
Adopting an ecological approach would save 125,000 lives, save $ 20 billion in costs and reduce emissions in these cities by around 20 % by 2040, according to this study. If nothing changes, the financial bill will be multiplied by six.
“African economic growth will be pushed by rapid expansion cities, said Clean Air Fund. More than 65 % of the continent’s population should live in urban areas by 2060.” “D ‘Here at the end of the century, Africa will have five of the ten largest megalopolises in the world. The big question is now how fast this growth will be, just and lasting “, according to the same source.