A pipeline for a geothermal power project in Olkaria, Kenya. Photo Credit: Michael Gottschalk/Photothek via Getty Images

Environment Nigeria6. March 2021

Win-Win: Air Pollution Declines, Even as the Economy Rises!

A recent study shows that countries from the northern part of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Kenya, are becoming less polluted even though their wealth and population are on the rise.

“The traditional paradigm is that as middle and low-income countries grow you often see more emissions, and to see a different kind of trajectory is very interesting,” says Jonathan Hickman, researcher at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and lead author on the study. “It’s nice to see a decline occurring when you’d expect to see pollution increasing.”

These low levels of dangerous nitrogen oxides, a byproduct of combustion, are due to a decline in fires set by farmers. Burning vegetation is considered a cheap and efficient way to clear land and to prepare for planting season since it allows for mineral nutrients to stay in the ground. NASA satellite data from 2005 to 2017 was used to measure the level of NO2 in the region’s air, and the trend regarding fires. Over those 12 years, at the height of fire seasons, there has been a 4.5% decline of nitrogen oxides in the lower atmosphere.

Source:
New York Times

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