A Rwf1.4-billion project to test the pollution level in atmosphere is set to open before July, next year, Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) has said.

Remy Duhuze, the director of environment regulations and pollution control at REMA, said the project is funded by Rwanda Green Fund.

"We are going to install eight air pollution monitoring stations in various parts of the country and they will be increased progressively to cover many areas,” Duhuze told The New Times.

He said the stations will be recording data on main pollutants, test their pollution level and then report to the main data logger in Kigali, which will be centralising data and providing air pollution status of the country every day.

The stations will monitor main air pollutants such as sulphur and carbon monoxide, methane gases, among others.

"We will then detect the causes of those pollutants. Some may be caused by fuel, industries, different kinds of fires which release particle mater, waste, among others. After detecting the causes, we will concentrate on the areas, we will use the recent law on air pollution prevention enacted in June to deal with the issue,” he explained.

REMA will run the project in collaboration with Ministry of Education and Rwanda Meteorology Agency.

The Education ministry has been dealing with climate observatory project installed on Mugogo Mountain in Nyabihu District as a regional greenhouse gases monitoring station.

According to Duhuze, Mugogo climate observatory has been recording information related to only climate change and, therefore, will complement the air pollution control center in general.

‘Unusual catastrophic events’

Recent reports by the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources show that the country is facing unusual catastrophic events such as heavy rains, prolonged droughts – the worst ever in the past 60 years occurring this year –, malaria and increase in pests due to climate change.

They say the events are due to the fact that Rwanda has experienced temperature increase of about 1.5°C since 1970, higher than global average.

The 2016 study on "Cost of air pollution on economy” by the World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) indicates that air pollution is the fourth leading risk for premature deaths worldwide.

Air pollution-related deaths cost the global economy about $225 billion in lost labour income in 2013.

The report recommends the investment in healthier cities and cleaner sources of energy to reduce dangerous emissions.

In September, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that around three million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution.

WHO said that in 2012, an estimated 6.5 million deaths (11.6 per cent of global deaths) were associated with both indoor and outdoor air pollution.

"Nearly 90 per cent of air-pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries,” the report reads, adding that air pollution also increases the risks of acute respiratory infections.

WHO cites major sources of air pollution that includes inefficient modes of transport, household fuel and waste burning, coal-fired power plants, and industrial activities.

In May, WHO approved a new ‘road map’ calling upon the health sector to increase monitoring of air pollution locally.

The US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that among the top causes of deaths in Rwanda, acute respiratory infections account for 9 per cent.

Rwanda joins clean air coalition

During the recent COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco, Rwanda became the newest member of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

Speaking at the event, the Minister for Natural Resources, Dr Vincent Biruta, shared the steps Rwanda is taking to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.

He said while it does not have many heavy industries, old vehicles, diesel-powered generators and biomass burning was polluting the air of major cities.

To help reduce this challenge, the government recently increased taxes on old vehicles, and also introduced mandatory emissions testing for all vehicles while Rwandans are also urged to use cooking gas to substitute biomass burning.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw