Exploring the Nexus of Air Pollution and Climate Change in Africa

Atmospheric Tales: Season 5 / Episode 5

Rebecca Garland (Guest), Cynthia Sitati (Interviewer), Shahzad Gani (Host)

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Shahzad G: Welcome to Atmospheric Tales, a podcast that amplifies stories and experiences related to air pollution and climate change, from around the world.

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Shahzad G: I’m your host, Shahzad Gani, and welcome to another episode of Atmospheric Tales.

Our guest today is Professor Rebecca Garland, who is a seasoned expert in atmospheric sciences, specialising in air quality and climate change, with a strong focus on science-policy linkages. Her research endeavours are dedicated to improving the understanding of air quality and atmospheric science in southern Africa, through the integration of multiple data streams; this includes developing emissions inventories, conducting air quality modelling, utilising ground-based and remote sensing measurements, formulating evidence-based air quality management strategies, and exploring the connections between air quality and climate change at regional and urban scales. Dr Garland has held a significant role as a Principal Researcher at the Climate and Air Quality Modeling Group within the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa. She obtained her PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder, concentrating on atmospheric science with a specific focus on aerosol particles. Additionally, she served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, and as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Our interviewer today is Cynthia Sitati, who is a Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Africa Centre. She holds an MSc in Climate Change Adaptation from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing a PhD at the same institution, where she wants to explore the intricate relationship between air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by leveraging advanced technologies and synthesising data from diverse sources. At the Stockholm Environment Institute, Cynthia works under the Sustainable Urbanization Programme, supporting projects on air pollution, climate change, and urban development. Her goal is to use research to inform policy, help humanity fight Air Pollution and climate change in her capacity as a researcher, and make a significant contribution towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Welcome to the show, Rebecca and Cynthia!

Cynthia S: Thank you, Shahzad, for the introduction, and welcome, Rebecca!

Rebecca G: No, thank you for inviting me, Shahzad. I’m excited to be here. And Cynthia, I’m looking forward to our discussions today.

Cynthia S: Climate change, as we know, is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. It’s driven largely by human activities, particularly the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. These gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to a cascade of effects such as rising temperatures, melting ice caps, and more frequent extreme weather events. Now, shifting our focus to air pollution — It’s not just an eyesore; it’s a serious health and environmental concern. Air pollutants, whether they are from vehicle emissions, industrial processes, or natural sources like wildfires, have harmful effects on both human health and the environment. From respiratory problems to ecosystem damage, the impacts of air pollution are far-reaching and significant. But here’s where it gets interesting: the same activities that produce air pollutants also release greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. This interconnectedness between air pollution and climate change is what makes addressing these issues so complex yet crucial for the well-being of our planet. And to guide us through this intricate web of science and policy, we’re honoured to have Professor Rebecca Garland with us today. As an esteemed expert in atmospheric sciences and a leading voice in air quality research in Africa, Professor Garland brings invaluable insights and expertise to our conversation. To dive deeper into this topic, I would like to ask you a few questions about the interconnectedness of air pollution and climate change, and how their combined effects impact health and the environment. Now, to contextualise the air pollution and climate change nexus: how do you perceive the intricate linkage between air pollution and climate change, and why is it important to address them together?

Rebecca G: Yeah, thanks. So, as you said, one of the key aspects is that they have the same sources. So, when we do an intervention or a policy for one, we will impact the other almost all of the time. In addition, they impact on each other, so some air pollutants such as particulate matter and ozone, may also interact with solar radiation; and so, they can also cool or warm our climate. And then, the other way around, climate change impacts on meteorology, so things like winds and precipitation; so that’s going to impact on the formation, the transformation, the chemistry, as well as the movement of pollutants and their deposition. So, they’re linked, as we said. And to me, I think the main reason that they have to always be addressed together is that not every action is a win-win for both. We’ve had plenty of examples of things where, you know, it can be positive for climate but perhaps not for air quality. So one example is, you know, the real push for diesel cars that happened a while back. They do have less emissions of carbon than petrol cars, but they actually emit more air pollutants such as NO2 and others; so, it was a win for climate, but not necessarily for air quality. And I also think, very often, the timing and how we approach things differ in the two. Air pollution sometimes has a much more immediate effect — well, it does have a more immediate effect that we see — and climate change policies are often very far looking into the future and, you know, really large changes in the economy and in our energy system. But, we can’t have poor air quality until our climate legislations are passed and, you know, we live in this new green future; we also have to address air pollution, I think, right here and right now. And so, it is those disconnects that sometimes make it challenging, I think, to address both.

Cynthia S: Thank you, Rebecca. Now, what are the most pressing health and environmental impacts of air pollution and climate change, contextualising it to Africa? And, how do these impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable communities?

Rebecca G: Yeah, so there are a lot, right? There’s a lot of different ways that both air pollution and climate impacts on health and on the environment. And to me, I think the most pressing are how they interact together to make the situation worse, and to start considering them just not separately, but together. So, an example of that, that I always think of, are heat waves in urban areas. So, under climate change, we could have increasing heat, which affects people’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems. In urban areas, we often have high pollution. There’s some evidence; well, we do know that the heat waves can also impact the air quality. For example, here in South Africa, a lot of our heatwaves are very stable conditions. This would be true in many places. It’s really stable, and so, the pollution could build up. The increasing temperatures can affect things as well. And so, now, you have the situation where you have multiple stressors. And we’re only talking two — air pollution and climate change; there’s a lot more, as well. And so, it’s this combination, I think, that is one of the most pressing, that we don’t really have a good understanding of, and I don’t think our interventions address both. And as you said, you know, unfortunately, the most vulnerable are most often the most impacted. From an air quality perspective, the most vulnerable and poor communities and households, they won’t have money for electricity. So when they cook, they have to use dirtier fuels, such as coal or kerosene. They also very often can live closer to emission sources such as roads, industries; you know, depends on the city planning, depends on where these poor communities are. And then on the other side, if we’re using the example of heat waves — very often, their housing isn’t really well insulated, well constructed, and so they can feel the effects of the heat as well. There might not be many trees or shade, depending if it’s an urban or rural setting. So, yeah, from many aspects, the most vulnerable are disproportionately affected or exposed, and also very often don’t have the needed, for example, medical facilities close by to help, as well with that. And these interlinkages do also then, I think, make it so there’s multiple interventions, so you know, if we improve the insulation in the house, so you know, in the colder times, people won’t have heaters in the house that are burning dirtier fuel. So, there’s also opportunities with these interlinkages, to improve both, I think.

Cynthia S: Thank you, Rebecca, for the elaborate answer. Now, I won’t go without asking you this question. You were involved in the African Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change as a Coordinating Lead Author and a Lead Modeler; could you share some insights into the role and some of the key findings or outcomes of the assessment regarding air pollution and climate change in Africa?

Rebecca G: Yeah, I’d be very excited to talk about this report; and, this report was released last year in full. It was the output of quite a few years of a lot of hard work by many people, and many of the authors are Africa-based, and a lot of the information, you know, had a lot of local expertise in this. So, what this assessment looked to do is, if we assume the current and the planned development pattern for the whole continent, so it was a pan-African assessment, and so, you know, if we assume population will grow as we have population estimates projected, you know, current levels of GDP or levels of GDP growth for development into the future, what can we do to mitigate emissions of both air pollutants, short-lived climate forcing pollutants, so those are the pollutants that impact climate change and greenhouse gases as well. And, multiple scenarios were developed of, you know, what could the future look like depending on different emission reductions, and then also what would the impacts on health and ecosystems, particularly agriculture, from air quality, be under these different scenarios. So one to me, one of the key outcomes is actually having these future scenarios. When we try to do air quality work, we do have future projections of different scenarios of emissions of greenhouse gases. We didn’t have the same for air pollutants, right? We have goals, like we want to meet our ambient air quality standards, but we didn’t have the pathways, and different scenarios. And so those in themselves for scientists, I think, are really exciting to have. The other aspects are the support for policy and, you know, perhaps we can go into more details if that’s, you know, of interest, but this provide for five sectors in particular — for transport, residential, energy, agricultural, and waste — provides, you know, different implementational measures, you know, public transport, waste management, and different aspects like that. And, how much, how widely, I suppose, these have to be implemented in different emissions scenarios to get to the Africa that we want, in the end. And, one of the key messages that came out of it, I mean, as we know, is we have to work across sectors. There does have to be, you know, serious effort in implementing these. A lot of these have, or all of these measures have already been implemented in Africa. So, it’s nothing crazy, right? We’re not waiting on some new technology, magical technology, to save something, but rather these are measures we know work, measures that have been implemented. And, a lot to me that I’ve seen in air quality space, a lot of what is needed is more, is scale, is we need more of it. Now, we don’t just need one bus route, right? We need a lot of public transportation, and maybe a rethinking of it. And so I could go on for a long time. There’s lots of really cool aspects. But yeah, to me, that’s some of the key aspects, I think, that came out of the report.

Cynthia S: Thank you, thank you, Rebecca. And, how do you see the results of this assessment informing future research priorities or policy decisions related to air quality and climate change in Africa?

Rebecca G: So, I do hope that they do. I think it’s a great piece of work, it’s novel, and it’s a piece of work that, as I said, had a lot of local input from the scientists and that’s the part I was a part of, but also from policymakers, and other stakeholders and actors, who were involved in the process. So I do think, you know, it’s a really good piece of work and it’s a good starting point. So, from a research point of view, because that’s where I think of, I think right now there is a real need to take this information and to downscale it. So, the assessment provides results at a continent scale, at a regional scale, and at a national scale. However, there’s nothing finer than that. And, you know, some initial feedback from policymakers that I’ve heard at least is that, right, like regional, within their country, right, like a city-scale assessment, you know, and maybe a deeper dive into some of this information, is needed. And it’s not just a spatial scale that, you know, they’d like to know for their different cities or provinces, but it’s also that we have to remember this was a Pan-African assessment, and so, some assumptions had to be made in order for us to do the whole continent. And so, there is work for local researchers to look and say, okay, fine, for a Pan-African assessment, this assumption is fine, but me sitting here in Botswana, I have better data, I have more information or, oh no, that’s not quite going to work. And so, you know, local researchers have the expertise in order to take this information and to make it more applicable, to make it more actionable for their own government, and also to downscale it to this higher spatial resolution. And that’s something that really only local expertise, I think, can do effectively, because you know, local expertise will know the situation, will know the policies, will know, you know, the policymakers and those others, who need to implement these changes. And you know, just to note that hopefully there will be support for this; this network of researchers, you know, we are there, we are working on this, but very often we don’t have a lot of support. Hopefully, through this assessment as well, it has opened the eyes of policymakers at multiple levels, of the need for long-term and consistent support to address these problems. And so, I am heartened by the fact that this was a report that the African Union and the African Ministerial on the Environment, AMCEN, that they supported this. They have developed a clean air flagship, the African Union House. And, all of this, the assessment and the flagship, have now been acknowledged by a recent UNEA, so the UN Environment Resolution on the Regional Cooperation on Air Pollution. And this just happened in Nairobi, so Cynthia, I’m sure you know a lot more about it than I do as well. But, I think it’s exciting to see that, you know, some wheels are in motion to support the implementation of the assessment, also from the research side, I hope.

Cynthia S: Thank you, thank you, Rebecca; that is very insightful. Now, Rebecca, you are part of the implementation team for the African Group on Atmospheric Sciences (ANGA). Are there any initiatives that have been implemented to support and promote the participation of African scientists and researchers in the field of atmospheric sciences?

Rebecca G: Yeah, so this ANGA, it’s a working group that sits under IGAC, which is an international grouping of atmospheric chemists who sit in it, and the organisation sits under Future Earth. And so at our core, what we’re trying to do is to provide a platform and a network to not only bring African-based atmospheric scientists together, but to also provide linkages between our community and the broader international community; and so, one of our main aims is to support and promote participation of African scientists in this field. We are a grassroots community; like I said, we’re a network. One of the examples that we have been able to do this, is actually through the African assessment. ANGA was newer when the assessment started, but we were able to really leverage the network and people within the network. Many did end up then being authors, reviewers, modellers, and had some engagement in the assessment. So, I mean, that’s one way that we were able to support such an assessment with the local expertise that exists. Also, I think it helps to grow the network; we got to meet each other. It was unfortunately all online because it was during COVID, but we got to start to meet people that maybe we wouldn’t, other African-based atmospheric scientists. with that. Another example: we’ve recently supported the ASIC conference, so the Air Sensors International Conference in Ghana; ANGA members — there are quite a few on the scientific committee for the conference, and also participation as well. And then, we also work to disseminate, you know, information, calls for proposals, job openings, conferences, training opportunities that we feel are relevant to the community, to really ensure that the linkages are there. Now, we’re starting from the point that there are experts and there is expertise in this. Sometimes, perhaps, the funder or the proposal doesn’t know that this person is there, or that this group is there, or these people are there: so, can our network help to put people into touch? And, anybody can join the network if they go to our web page; you’ll see when you go there. If you look up IGAC-ONGA, you can click and join our network.

Cynthia S: Thank you, Rebecca. How do you envision the future landscape of atmospheric sciences in Africa, particularly in terms of research priorities, technological advancements, and international collaborations?

Rebecca G: Yeah, so firstly, I would like to see atmospheric science become more of a research priority. And through that, all of these issues of atmospheric science, climate change, but air pollution as well. I think we do have a lot of expertise, a lot of the focus in the atmospheric science field is on climate change; and, you know, fine, that’s also a very, very important problem. But I’m hoping we can also have both of these covered within atmospheric science. I would like to see the communities grow, in really, all of the different countries. I think we’re starting to see this, right? We are starting to see more and more people working in atmospheric science, but we have a long way to go. And, we need to build and support this community if we want younger researchers from Africa, to work in Africa. We have to develop the opportunities for more and more people to work here. What also I would like to see, are continuing stronger local leads of projects and of collaborations, as you noted. We’ve recently just written, a few of us have written an opinion piece on this in ACP Journal; It focused a lot on the strength of researchers in the Global South. We used, it was, the authors were from Africa and South America; so we use these as examples, right, not trying to speak for everybody, but from our own experiences, trying to highlight our strengths, and that we do have a lot of strengths that we bring to this community, and, strengths that are needed for this community to be able to address all of these very important issues such as air quality, climate change and such. But within this too, even though we were really focused on the strengths, we did have a discussion on collaboration because, you know, you mentioned it there in the question, and it really is key because currently from my experience, most collaborations I see are still not equitable. And as a community, we need to discuss this because a large driver from my experience is that financially, there will be an imbalance. And we go into this in the paper, like, you know, like these countries do not have the same amount going towards research as US, European countries, and China; and, that’s not going to change drastically. So, this is our reality; how do we still ensure and promote equitable collaborations, knowing that, okay, there may be inequities in finances, there also will be in the number of people — another kind of statistic we looked at is how fewer researchers there are per capita in many of our countries — so we’re smaller, we don’t have as much money, but we can still have equitable collaborations. And when I’m speaking of this, in collaborations between the Global North and Global South, there are these inherent inequities usually, between finances and capability, but that doesn’t mean that the collaborations have to be inequitable. There’s more discussion on this, which I think is positive. I think we have a really long way to go. And, I think there are examples of how to do it right. We know how to do it right. And, so there’s also not really a reason to not prioritise equitable relationships, because the benefits to everything, to science, to actually having your work be impactful, you know, to growing our community; there’s so many benefits. And so that’s one of the areas I really do hope that continues to be discussed and addressed and actioned as well, is moving towards these more equitable collaborations, because I think it’s necessary for the future of this field.

Cynthia S: Thank you, Rebecca. Now, as I wrap up, my final question would be, is there any advice that you would offer to students or young researchers that are aspiring to contribute to atmospheric sciences in Africa, and how can they best position themselves for success in this field?

Rebecca G: Yeah, so first, I suppose, this is a really important field, it’s an exciting field; so good choice, to choose to come join atmospheric sciences in Africa. I mean, a lot of it would depend, you know, like the technical aspects, what people are interested in. But one thing that I can think of for most people is, come and like be active and join the community, and to help us to grow the community and to collaborate within, you know, this larger community of African atmospheric scientists and people interested in atmospheric science in Africa. Science is and should be collaborative; I think the best successful science is collaborative, again, when they’re equitable. And as we’re trying to grow this exciting field, we need energy, we need ideas, we need all members; and so I would strongly recommend for people interested in this to join the community, talk to us. When you see somebody at a conference, go up and talk to them, talk about your research, get linkages as well, so that we can work to address these issues together. We can also grow a really strong community, that can address all these really important issues. And when we talk about our community, I think it’s also really broad. You know, from the research community, we can have many backgrounds — meteorology, I’m in chemistry, there’s engineers, there’s social scientists, there’s so much; but that’s only the research part. There’s also people who do impacts. There’s people, you know, practitioners and government and, you know, lots of people self-identify within our community. And, I think that only makes us stronger.

Cynthia S: Thank you so much, Rebecca, for the wonderful answers, and the really insightful session we’ve had.

Rebecca G: Yeah, thank you, Cynthia, as well. It was great to talk today.

Shahzad G: With that, I would like to thank our guest, Prof Rebecca Garland, and our interviewer, Cynthia Sitati for joining us on this episode of Atmospheric Tales. Thanks to all our listeners for tuning in. Make sure to subscribe and share!