Air quality sensors have been installed in various parts of Dar es Salaam city for collecting data on the extent of air pollution and suggest climate change mitigation measures, it has been learnt.
The censors will support statistics availability on the air quality in 90 coming days from now.
The sensors, which will test the level of particulate matter and the level of Nitrogen dioxide in the air, were set in East African’s largest city which is also one of the world’s rapidly growing cities for baseline survey which will help with intervention measures of combating greenhouse emission gasses and climate change.
“All five municipalities of Ubungo, Kigamboni, Kinondoni, temeke and Dar es City council have been set with sensors, which are monitored 24 hours and they will give us right statistics on the state of pollution within 90 coming days,” Said Dr Asinta Manyele, the team leader and senior lecture at Dar es Salaam institute of Technology (DIT).
She added that the sensors are important in mapping the air quality situation for supporting policy makers to make informed decisions on the initiative to combat climate change and where improvements are to be made to combat climate change effects for the healthy population.
Dr Manyele said the project was part of The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group which is monitoring 97 cities around the world including Dar es Salaam, which is expected to double its population by the year 2030.
She said that in order to get right information on which sector produces carbon emission at what magnitude, the sensors have been set at diverse economic activities places to get comparative data.
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“The sensors have been put at places with many industries, traffic jams, food cooking, and vending areas.
This will help us to know which activity produces more pollution and will help for rightful intervention measures,” she said.
Ms, Jackline Senyagwa, the research fellow at Stockholm institute, said that if left interrupted, air pollution may cause health complications which are of negative effects to the country’s development.
Ms Senyagwa, said that consequences may range from pulmonary complications, cause visibility difficultness and cause breathing problems which may affect human resources and hike medical burden
The project which is run by Dar es Salaam regional authorities is financed by C40 organization, implemented by Stockholm environmental institute under custodian of DIT.
Dar es Salaam city is at forefront in addressing climate change effects, by building infrastructures supportive to public transport mobility like Dar es Salaam Rapid bus transit (DART) and building pedestrian supportive infrastructures.
