International UGent students report “alarming” air quality in home country

The air quality in African and Asian cities with more than 10 million inhabitants is “alarmingly bad”, according to a Ghent University (UGent) project in which international students collected air samples in their home countries.

Students of the Master’s degree in environmental sanitation took measuring equipment to their home country. They collected samples from Lagos in Nigeria, Douala in Cameroon, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Nairobi in Kenya, Hanoi in Vietnam, Chiang Mai in Thailand, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Manila in the Philippines.

The samples were analysed at Ghent, with the researchers focusing on tropospheric ozone formation –ozone formation in the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Increased exposure to ozone can lead to respiratory problems and can damage crops.

The highest tropospheric ozone formation was measured in a street in Dhaka. The amount in a busy street in Ghent is half that found in a park in Dhaka.                                       

The high levels in big cities in developing countries are probably due to traffic jams caused by the increasing number of cars, mostly older vehicles. UGent hopes mapping this air pollution can help to raise awareness and find solutions for the problem.

© Flickr Storm Crypt