Commission to Introduce 7 Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Capital City

Addis Ababa June 13/2019 Climate Change and Environment Commission said it will introduce seven additional new air quality monitoring stations in the capital city next month. 
Air Pollution Monitoring and Control Senior Expert Meseret Abdissa told journalists today that   Ethiopia, with a population of more than 100 million, has only seven monitoring stations in Addis Ababa, Hawassa and Adama.

Yet, some of those are dysfunctional and the number of the air quality monitoring stations is low, he revealed.

The commission is, therfore, working in cooperation with United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to introduce additional seven new air quality monitoring stations in the city, Meseret elaborated.

The senior expert stated that more than 50,000 persons die from diseases related to air pollution in Ethiopia.

The major sources of pollution in the country are biomass fuel, vehicles emission, poor quality fuels, poor solid waste management, pollution from industries and construction, it was learned.

UNEP representative to Ethiopia, Samba Haroma said the economic cost of air pollution is over 750 billion in Africa, while it is 114 billion USD in Sub-Saharan Africa.

About seven million persons die worldwide from pollution related disease annually.