Tiny particles in the air reduce visibility. Also, cause the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated. Often referred to as PM2.5, the particles can travel deeply into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs. Exposure to fine particles can cause runny nose, shortness of breath, sneezing, eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, as well as coughing. In today's episode, I host Sean Khan, the Global Environment Monitoring System Program Manager at the UN Environment, Owen Ombima, Safaricom Envi...
Feb 22, 2022•34 min
Ghana's air quality monitoring started back in 1996. Over the years, different sectors have joined hands to curb air pollution emanating from the transport sector, and solid waste management of which 60percent is collected. Additionally, dust storms from the northeast of Africa and extraction of precious minerals from e-waste has led the country to set up air quality monitors every four kilometers along the industrial, residential, and commercial areas. Today on the air pollution series, Ghana's...
Feb 14, 2022•33 min
Africa attracted about five percent of development funding and less than four percent of philanthropy funding to fight air pollution between 2015 – 2020 according to the 2021 [report](https://www.cleanairfund.org/publication/global-funding-2021/). Most sub-Saharan African countries are highly in debt. The 2022 international debt crisis [report](https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36289) shows that sub-Saharan Africa's debt rose from $665 Billion in 2019 to 702B. With most of the fun...
Feb 07, 2022•38 min
Cities in Africa are fast-growing. Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to have 13 megacities by 2100. A 2021 UN Environment report on Air Pollution and Development in Africa shows that outdoor air pollution was responsible for an estimated nearly 400,000 deaths across Africa in 2019. Economically, countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, and Rwanda annually are recurring losses in the economical production of between 0.08 and 0.3 per cent of gross domestic product. Sucking in dirty is the leading cause of si...
Jan 31, 2022•33 min
Did you know that you breathe about 150 liters of air daily and that the air you breathe goes directly to your lungs and bloodstream? Dr. George Mwaniki, the head of Air Quality at the World Resources Institute [(WRI) Africa](https://www.wri.org/africa), says breathing in dirty air sucks in tiny particles that can damage lungs, hearts, and brains. The world health organization reckons that reducing air pollution levels can reduce the burden of diseases like stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, an...
Jan 24, 2022•25 min
Africa's growth has been accelerating for the last twenty years. Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Africa was on track to more than triple its population this century. While this growth is excellent, it brings enormous air pollution challenges. Air pollution is one of the most significant environmental risks to health. The world health organization reckons that reducing air pollution levels can reduce the burden of diseases like stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory d...
Jan 17, 2022•7 min
A recent [report on education](https://en.unesco.org/futuresofeducation/sites/default/files/2021-10/UNESCO%20Reimagining%20our%20futures%20together%20EMBARGOED%20COPY.pdf) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shows that 1 in every three families in Kenya and Uganda borrows money for school fees. Meet vulnerable students from Njumbi High school in Murang'a county in central Kenya whose parents cannot afford to raise their school fees since joining the s...
Dec 13, 2021•10 min
This December, I thought it best to look back into our communities as we approach the holiday season. Today, this episode highlights the economic impacts Covid 19 has had on schools, drug surges, and mental health impacts. As of November 2020, the World Bank data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed an estimated [two million](https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/kenya/publication/kenya-economic-update-covid-19-erodes-progress-in-poverty-reduction-in-kenya-increases-number-of-poor-citizens) pe...
Dec 06, 2021•8 min
Annually, nearly 20 million people leave their homes due to climate-induced displacement, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 80 percent of those displaced are women and girls Women are key agents of change, but education is vital in developing required leadership traits. During the Gender Day celebrated during the just-concluded UN climate summit (COP26), the need to make climate finance more gender-responsive was noted as key. In today's episode, Camille Quénard, a ...
Nov 29, 2021•13 min
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report on global warming clearly shows that human influence is responsible for warming the atmosphere. In today's conversation, Africa Climate Conversations ask Dr. Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla, the AIMS-Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Science at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Rwanda, if the pledges made at the just concluded 26th UN summit on climate change (COP26) in Glasgow lead to reduced warming. One hundred four...
Nov 23, 2021•13 min
Africa is the [most vulnerable](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50726701) to climate change and among the most impacted by climate change. Under the international climate negotiations, the continent negotiates as a group under the [African Group of negotiators (AGN)](https://africangroupofnegotiators.org/) on climate change. However, 33 African countries are classified as [Least Developed Countries (LDC)](https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country-category.html). The ...
Nov 15, 2021•42 min
For the world to achieve the Paris agreement goals, climate finance which has been a contentious issue under climate negotiations, is critical. Also, implementing national commitments or NDC's is essential. Negotiators have been discussing long-term finance and the common time frame by which NDC's communicated by countries must be implemented. Today, Ambassador Mohamed Nasr, a former African Group of Negotiators Chair, and the current lead negotiator on finance explains where negotiations are on...
Nov 09, 2021•25 min
Africa is the continent most vulnerable to climate extremes. The IPCC six assessment [report](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/) (AR6) confirms the continent warms faster than the global average over both land and oceans. From experiencing the hottest weather in Egypt this August that has occurred in the last 50 years to cyclones and heavy rains that resulted in higher-than-normal vegetation growth providing ideal conditions for desert locusts in the horn of Africa. Unfortunately, Mariam Allam...
Nov 02, 2021•27 min
Covid 19 has already demonstrated the availability of funds when a crisis occurs. Unfortunately, a report by [nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02846-3?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=118f135bfa-briefing-dy-20211020_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-118f135bfa-46594002) shows that when it comes to providing finance for the climate crisis twelve years since Copenhagen, when developed countries promised to make available USD 100 billion annually fo...
Oct 26, 2021•45 min
The climate emergency is worsening. The world has witnessed record-high temperatures, widespread wildfires, and increasingly unpredictable floods and droughts. IPCC [report](https://www.ipcc.ch/ar6-syr/) on climate science is unequivocal; human activity is to blame. The report reinforced the absolute urgency of closing the 2030 emissions gap if the world limits warming to 1.5°C. The [Nationally Determined Contributions](https://www.wri.org/indc-definition) (NDCs) are countries' commitment stipul...
Oct 19, 2021•36 min
The Kyoto protocol recognised Africa for its vulnerability to climate change. But under the Paris agreement, Africa lost that recognition. The [African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN)](https://africangroupofnegotiators.org) says Africa's special needs and circumstances need reinstating. Home to 17 percent of the global population, Africa contributes less than four percent of global emissions and is the most vulnerable continent to climate change. Already experiencing 1.8 degrees war...
Oct 12, 2021•31 min
This episode marks the beginning of building momentum to the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference also known as COP26. We start by contextualizing the current climate change negotiations by looking back to where it originated and how it has evolved. To walk us through that journey, I am joined by a James Murombedzi, a climate change policy and governance expert. COP26 is scheduled in the city of Glasgow, Scotland between 31 October and 12 November 2021. Have a listen and please send you...
Oct 05, 2021•44 min
The 26th annual UN climate conference will occur between 31 October and 12 November this year in Glasgow, Scotland. Did you know that the climate journey did not start at COP21 with the [Paris agreement](https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement) in 2015? In June 1972, the first world conference to make the environment a critical issue was held in Stockholm, Sweden. That is the United Nations Conference on the Environment. [Twenty years](https://www.jus.uio....
Sep 28, 2021•8 min
Africa representing over 17 percent of the world population, is responsible for less than four percent of global emissions. But the continent has significant assets in terms of carbon sinks. Jean-Paul Adam, the director for [Technology, Climate Change, and Natural Resources](https://uneca.org/TCND) at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), says the Congo basin alone accounts for three years' worth of global emissions in its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. Africa's [agenda 2063](https://...
Sep 21, 2021•35 min
A 2021 _report_ [_Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis_](https://www.unicef.org/media/105376/file/UNICEF-climate-crisis-child-rights-crisis.pdf) by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) notes that today's children and young people face an uncertain future because of the impacts of climate change. Globally, almost every child on earth is exposed to at least one climate and environmental hazard, shock, or stress such as heatwaves, cyclones, air pollution, flooding, and water scarcity. Cre...
Sep 14, 2021•14 min
This week, we are talking about empowering children to conserve biodiversity and the environment. It is what Miti Alliance has been doing for the last nine years. [Miti Alliance](https://www.miti.co.ke/mission-1) is a social enterprise focusing on planting and growing trees across schools, forests, communities aimed at planting five million trees by 2025 In 2020, the Miti alliance worked with 71 Schools, planted 50 kitchen gardens, trained 80 youths & women, and planted 10200 tree seedlings ...
Sep 07, 2021•21 min
Did you know that a third of Africa's forests have already been lost, mainly to charcoal production? Yes, that is according to the world forest organization. In Kenya, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) notes that more than 70 per cent of the domestic energy demand for cooking and heating has been met by charcoal over decades. For [a ton of charcoal produced, about ten tones of wood are used](https://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/articles/ASchure1902.pdf). But, can cha...
Aug 31, 2021•14 min
Today we are in Kenya's Nakuru County in a town named Mai Mahiu meaning "hot water" about 60kms drive from Nairobi City. Here we meet Lydia Njung'e, the CEO of Eversave Briquettes Limited. Since 2010, Njung'e has been using agricultural waste materials for manufacturing briquettes. The business started after Njung'e; then, a poultry farmer lost over 2000 birds overnight to carbon poisoning. While seeking advice from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research institute, Njung'e was advised to ...
Aug 24, 2021•10 min
Human activities have warmed the climate at an exceptional rate as per the latest UN's climate science report on the physical changes globally and expected to occur. The report on the physical science basis is the first outline of the three expected for the sixth assessment report. Publication of the second and third reports looking at how to adapt to these impacts and prevent the worst-case scenarios are expected early next year. What does this report mean for Africa?
Aug 17, 2021•16 min
Korogocho is one of the largest slums neighbourhood's northeast of Kenya's city center. It is home to nearly 200,000 people. We are precisely at the Canaan bridge where the Nairobi river separates Korogocho slums and Dandora suburbs, home to Nairobi's main dumping ground – the dandora dumping site. Here, a group of youths known as [Komb Green Solutions](https://www.trvst.world/charity-civil-society/komb-green-solutions-creating-nairobis-first-peoples-park/) has reclaimed a landfill by the Nairob...
Aug 10, 2021•18 min
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that the world population is expected to grow to almost [10 billion](http://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf) by 2050. Further, by 2050, in every five children born, [two will be born in Africa](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/the-children-s-continent/). Already, the rate of urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa is unmatched compared to the rest of the world. The urban population is expected to nearly triple to 1.34 billion peopl...
Jul 27, 2021•15 min
In 2016, the Nyongara River flowing out of the Ondiri Wetland in Kikuyu town, Kenya about 20 kilometres from Nairobi city, nearly dried up. Raw sewerage from Kikuyu town drained at the Wetland. Forty-four greenhouse farms around the wetland abstracted water unregulated. Additionally, solid waste dumpsters had found a new dumping site. Fodder harvesters harvested grass around the Wetland, burning the area during the dry season, killing birds nesting and their young ones while destroying other Flo...
Jul 20, 2021•17 min
We are at the Rwenshama fish landing site in Uganda at the shores of [Lake Edward](https://www.africangreatlakesinform.org/article/lake-edward), one of the smallest African Great Rift lakes lying in the Western Rift Valley. Shared between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda Though existed since the '50s, there has not been a toilet or clean water. Fishers and traders defecated at the wetland next to the lake. Fish was actioned on a carpet laid on bare soil and sold off without cleaning. ...
Jul 13, 2021•14 min
A 17-year-old secondary school student from Niger's 2nd largest city Zinder Faiza Habou and her mother earn a living out of cracking nuts and pounding wild fruits on contract under the Sahara Sahel foods. "These fruits were a delicacy back in the village while growing up. My mother worked as a house help to feed and educate our family of 12 children until the packaging of the wild fruits started in 2014," Habou told _the Africa Climate Conversations_. "Cracking the wild fruits has enabled us to ...
Jul 07, 2021•20 min
From 06th July, we are starting a new series highlighting environmental solutions. We will go to the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo along [Lake Edward](https://www.africangreatlakesinform.org/article/lake-edward) one of the smaller African Great Lakes shared by these two countries. We will find out how a new fish landing site equipped with water and sanitary facilities is changing fishers' lives who defecated in the nearby bush for years, sold fish straight from the lake w...
Jun 29, 2021•4 min
