NAIROBI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Researchers Monday called on African governments to develop and implement home grown policies to help reduce air pollution in the emerging mega-cities.
Nicholas Ozor, the Executive Director of African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), said the increasing air pollution as a result of climate change requires that all countries set in place policies that could help improve the quality of air in the cities.
"There is need to collaborate with experts to help develop workable national policies to help revert the current adverse air quality in the cities in the continent," Ozor said in Nairobi at a workshop on air quality attended by experts from Kenya, South Africa and Britain.
Ozor called for the integration of air quality into school and college curriculums to guide students into keeping the air clean from early age.
He also told the governments to honour the Lagos Plan of Action that required all the African governments to allocate funds for research to help with air quality research.
Kirsti Ashworth from the Lancaster Environment Centre at the Lancaster University said the rising poor air quality in the major cities in the continent calls for quick interventions.
Ashworth called for initiatives towards the management of indoor pollution that is to blame for many deaths of people who use biomass for cooking and heating their homes.
"Raise awareness of the need for interdisciplinary co-produced research to holistically tackle the challenges of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," she added.
Michael Gitari, from the University of Nairobi's Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, said Africa's contribution to the science of pollution is extremely low.
"Governments must consider funding air pollution research to develop data as a way of reducing the vagaries caused by climate change adverse effects," he added.
Gitari noted that the situation is getting worse more so with the increasing rural urban migration and the increasing number of vehicles on major roads in the cities.
He warned that if urgent action is not taken by the governments, then the countries will lose their economic drivers such as agriculture, report increased disease, ecosystem degradation and increased human conflicts.
