Efforts to combat air pollution move into high gear Air pollution is a great concern to health and the environment of The Gambia.

To tackle this challenging and imperative task on cleaning our air, the Departement of State for Forestry and the Environment, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have convened last week a workshop centred on the theme : ‘‘The sulphur reduction in vehicule fuels in The Gambia.’’ As our country boomed economically in recent years hundreds of new cars were being imported.

This gradually resulted to air pollution with negative impacts on people’s health. The transport sector is responsible for a significant amount of air pollution in urban areas (Banjul, Serrekunda, Brikama etc).

The Gambia government, through the Department of State for Forestry and the Environment,  has made huge efforts to tackle the pollution problem. The Gambia Environment Action Plan (GEAP), that constitutes the main policy document, has registered significant progress during the course of its implementation.

Considering that air pollution is reaching alarming proportions, Nancy Niang, Ag permanent secretary at the Department of State for Forestry and the Environment explained that sulphur combines with oxygen to create emissions that contribute to decreased air quality and thus have negative environmental efforts.

Consequently, she outlined, human health impacts are generally related to respiratory illnesses, including increased frequency in bronchitis and asthma. ‘‘We in The Gambia need regulatory efforts to reduce the sulphur content in fuels,’’she emphasized.