State of Air Quality in Malawi

Abstract

Air pollution in Malawi is recognized as one of the key environmental issues. Out of nine key issues it is ranked eighth on priority issues. This has led to lagging behind in terms of research and reporting on the issue. However, the Malawi Government has made strides in implementing policies, acts and programs that are directly or indirectly concerned with the improvement and abatement of air quality to meet the millennium development goals (MDGs) especially goal number 7. The inventories and studies show that air quality in Malawi is still good, but future anticipated air quality problems are cause for worry such as impact on human health, global climate change and ozone depletion. Trends in consumption of ozone depleting substances (ODS) show a remarkable drive towards total reduction. Emissions standards are in place in line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Recommendations on how to deal with air quality issues have been proposed in the national state of environmental report (NSOER) in that: 1) there is a need for an operational framework for climate change programs in Malawi and; 2) there is a need to unify climate change policies dealing with enforcement of ODS phasing out, alternative energy sources, emissions from vehicles and industries, and institutional and human resource capacity.

Exploring smoke: an ethnographic study of air pollution in rural Malawi

“…[7][8][9] Cooking using biomass (organic matter used as fuel) is known to be important, although other sources of air pollution are also present. [10][11][12][13][14] With over 3 billion people worldwide relying on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, these issues are key to global health. 15 Evidence for the effectiveness of improved cooking technologies and clean fuels is mixed.…”

“…These are associated with poor air quality and share other causative factors such as poverty and malnutrition 7–9. Cooking using biomass (organic matter used as fuel) is known to be important, although other sources of air pollution are also present 10–14…”

COVID-19, the environment and animal life in Malawi compared to other countries: A brief scooping review for a research agenda in the developing countries

“…In Malawi, the air is polluted by dust, gases, and car exhaust fumes in urban areas and by human activities such as bush fires, burning of tires, biomass burning, and dust in rural areas ( Mapoma and Xie, 2013 ). Unfortunately, a setback in assessing air quality in Malawi is the lack of hourly or daily monitoring equipment and systems.…”

Performance Characterization of Low-cost Air Quality Sensors for Off-grid Deployment in Rural Malawi

“…Malawi, located in southeastern Africa, provides a relevant context to investigate how lowcost sensors (LCS) can be used to address the global dearth of AQ observations. The Malawi Bureau of Standards published ambient air quality limits based on World Health Organization guidelines in 2005 (Mapoma and Xie, 2013;MBS, 2005), but there is no regulatory air quality monitoring program in the country to date. Previous studies on AQ in Malawi have primarily focused on indoor air quality or were unable to capture long-term trends (Fullerton et al, 2009(Fullerton et al, , 2011Jary et al, 2017;Mapoma and Xie, 2013).…”

“…The Malawi Bureau of Standards published ambient air quality limits based on World Health Organization guidelines in 2005 (Mapoma and Xie, 2013;MBS, 2005), but there is no regulatory air quality monitoring program in the country to date. Previous studies on AQ in Malawi have primarily focused on indoor air quality or were unable to capture long-term trends (Fullerton et al, 2009(Fullerton et al, , 2011Jary et al, 2017;Mapoma and Xie, 2013). A reliable, affordable LCS monitoring network in Malawi could provide data to monitor the evolution of air quality and establish baselines for future AQ management.…”