World Environment Day 2019: What Can be Done Differently But Consistently to Beat Air Pollution in Uganda?

The 2019 theme for the World Environment Day: Air Pollution raises the profile of a growing environmental challenge across the globe, irrespective of economic status. According to the UN Environment, “understanding the different types of pollution and how it affects our health and environment will help us take steps towards improving the air around us”. Air pollution sources include households, agriculture, industry, transport and waste.

Among others, air pollution has both direct and indirect impact on poverty efforts (SDG 1), through impeding good health and well-being (SDG 3). For example, health experts reveal that as urban air quality declines, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma, increases for the people, who live in them. This in turn weakens energies towards improved quality of education (SDG 4), enhanced gender equality (SDG 5), having in place decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). As a result, this affects efforts towards reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and having in place sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). Air pollution also frustrates any lifestyle changes towards responsible production and consumption (SDG 12) for the current and future generations.

At the global level, the UN estimates that around 3.8 million premature deaths are caused by indoor pollution each year, with a vast majority of them in the developing world

In Uganda, air pollution at the household level is also related to waste management, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises - SMEs (including informal set ups like Jua Kali) that employ thousands of people. A 2018 report from Kampala Capital City Authority from a pilot study revealed that Kampala’s air quality index measured at Nsambya (a city suburb) by the air pollution monitor on September 5, 2018 at 10 A.M is six times higher 162(𝜇g/m3) than World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines 25(𝜇g/m3). The results of this pilot study are indicative of unhealthy air and suggest that exposure to ambient air in Kampala may increase the burden of environmentally induced cardiovascular, metabolic, and respiratory diseases including infections.

In addition to Uganda’s huge reliance on biomass-based fuels (to cook, heat and light homes) that have documented indoor pollution impacts like many other developing countries, households and SMES continue to openly burn unsorted waste comprising plastics, organic waste, electronic waste, expired and remains of drugs, paint, medical waste, broken plastic pipes and other chemicals. This mix releases harmful dioxins, furans, and other gases into the atmosphere.

It is also not abnormal to find agro-related SMEs usually operating in close proximity to heavily inhabited settlements, openly and regularly burning rice husks, tree shavings, cattle horns, maize cobs, among others.

For example, the pungent smell which emerges from many abattoirs close to the Kampala City that openly burn cattle horns (normally done in the late evening) persists throughout the night, creating sleepless nights by choking people (link to asthma and other respiratory illnesses) especially the sick, expectant mothers, children and the elderly residing close to them. This is worsened by the hilly nature of Kampala that allows this polluted air to naturally ‘log’ in from valleys to the top, depending on the wind strength and directions.

In some areas, SMEs that process foodstuffs (like maize, sorghum, soya bean); as well as those that mine sand, clay and stones from small to large scale, the budding fine particles are potential causes of respiratory problems and declining water quality.

Uganda’s mute air pollution challenge is the passive smoking in public places like public service vehicles, busy streets, restaurants and other meeting places. According to Tobacco Control Uganda, 38 Ugandans die from tobacco related diseases every day. While Uganda’s The Tobacco Control Act (2015) stipulates that smoking in public places and 50 meters of it is prohibited, only a few success stories in implementing this. As a result, non-smokers are on the receiving end of this, putting their lives in danger. In the meantime, the WHO (2019) reports that in 2017, tobacco killed 3.3 million users and people exposed to second-hand smoke from lung-related conditions. It adds that more than 60,000 children aged under 5 die of lower respiratory infections caused by second-hand smoke. Those who live on into adulthood are more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) later in life.

What can be done differently but consistently?

1. Public information on the sources and effects of air pollution needs to be increased especially with respect to the effects of open burning of wastes especially plastics; and smoking in public places
2. In addition to existing national laws, local authorities should enact air quality ordinances and bye-laws to address air pollution across the country
3. Instead of the widespread open burning of the waste, Government needs to partner with private sector to provide incentives that can prop up cleaner production approaches for agro-related industries, mining, and waste management
4. More in-depth research should be carried out to identify personal exposure and pollution sources, and to develop air quality management plans and policies to protect public health and safety.
5. Related to the above, there should be targeted support and strengthening of citizen monitoring of air quality so as to exert accountability from local authorities, SMEs and other industrial establishments
6. Incentivize industry from SMEs to large ones to increase energy efficiency and production from renewable energy sources. This largely untapped potential could improve electricity systems and cooking solutions, both on the demand & supply sides. At the same time, this also has a huge leeway to address the increasing air quality challenges