First air pollution meeting in Ethiopia

At the end of December, AirClim and a group of universities in the US, Sweden and Ethiopia organised the first air pollution meeting in Addis Ababa. Around 80 participants from Ethiopia, neighbouring countries and international agencies attended the venue hosted by Addis Ababa University. During the three-day workshop we learnt about the growing problem of outdoor air pollution in the regions, while the new data on monitoring gave good hints on how to address it. Addis Ababa has one of the highest reported levels of black carbon in the world, mainly emitted by old diesel vehicles, driving serious health impacts. We also learnt from positive stories about the retrofitting of cars and import taxes on old polluting vehicles.