Ethiopia struggles to balance economic needs with environment

Grey skies over Addis Ababa as seen from this hillside are a frequent occurrence in Ethiopia's capital city. The country's EPA hopes working with DRI can help improve air quality in the days to come. (Photo by Vic Etyemezian) Reflecting is proud people, Ethiopia's bold flag features the Pan-African colors green, yellow and red. The yellow pentagram represents the sun, which one day may shine more clearly through blue skies thanks to Ethiopia's EPA.

Pilot air study may help clear air in Africa's oldest independent country

Some anthropologists call it "the cradle of humankind," birthplace of the planet's first homo sapiens.

Legend holds its emperors descended from the union of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, while many believe the storied Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments still resides there.

Today, its population of some 66 million is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.

Ethiopia. Most scholars would be hard pressed to find a country with a richer, more diverse, more complex history and prouder culture than this oldest of all independent African nations.

At the same time, decades of political upheaval, border clashes, drought and famine have ravaged its land, making hardscrabble survival this developing country's top priority.

With life expectancy just slightly above 41 years and basic needs such as food production, clean water, health care and infrastructure maintenance topping its to-do list, it's safe to say air quality hasn't been "Job One" in Ethiopia.

Each day buses, trucks and heavy equipment belch dark plumes of diesel exhaust as they rumble across the country's marginal, often unpaved roadways, stirring up dust clouds further tinting the skies of cities and villages. At the same time, the majority of cars in Ethiopia are at least 15 years old, and most leave a smoky trail of pollution in their wake.

Industrial processes, heating fuel, refuse burning and livestock also contribute to the growing urban smog problems. And, it's probably no coincidence that lung disease rates are on the rise and getting the attention of health officials.

DRI Assistant Research Professor Dr. Vic Etyemezian, right, explains to George Nikolich the inner workings of a portable filter sampler used in Ethiopia to collect particulate matter, known as PM10. A graduate from UNLV's electrical engineering program, Nikolich is a newly hired instrument technologist at the Southern Nevada Science Center. (Photo by Ron Kalb)

Now, a team of scientists from DRI, the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, the Clark County ( Nev. ) Department of Air Quality and others, is helping to move cleaner air higher up the priority list in Addis Ababa, the country's capital city.

Dr. Vicken "Vic" Etyemezian, assistant research professor in DRI's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, spent three weeks last January launching an air quality pilot study.

"Currently, there's not much information about air quality in Ethiopia," Etyemezian says. "But this we know—exhaust from vehicles is a big contributor to air pollution in urban centers there due to the widespread use of uncontrolled gasoline and diesel engines."

According to Etyemezian, the project aims to measure the levels of pollutants such as particulate matter, lead, sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and other hazardous toxins that have yet to be quantified.

During his three-week stay in Addis Ababa, Etyemezian set up two monitoring stations in the capital city—one at a fixed location and a second that was moved around the city to obtain spatial representation—to examine concentrations of particulate matter, or PM, carbon monoxide and various other pollutants.

Using equipment on loan from DRI, an Ethiopian science team continued to capture air samples for another six weeks. Preliminary data show, among other things, "diurnal variations" or time-of-day effects on air pollution levels. Some collected filter samples that require more sophisticated chemical characterization are currently undergoing analysis at DRI's Environmental Analysis Facility. Results from those analyses should be available by late summer.

Etyemezian says the pilot project could lead to longer-term air quality monitoring programs. The Ethiopian team includes several people from the country's Environmental Protection Authority, the United Nations Environment Programme, Addis Ababa University and U.S. EPA. Their ongoing efforts could help the Ethiopian EPA better understand the links between air pollution and health problems while laying the groundwork for setting and enforcing air quality standards in Addis Ababa, which is home to about 3 million people.

Traffic jams are commonplace at the Mercato bus station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city. As in other parts of the world, gasoline and diesel engines are major contributors to air-quality problems in the country. (Photo by Vic Etyemezian)

"Fortunately, Ethiopia completed its phase-out of leaded gasoline earlier this year," Etyemezian says. "They did this as part of a larger global effort—led by the United Nations and the World Bank—to discontinue the use of leaded gas, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa."

But "getting the lead out" is just a first step toward cleaner air. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, Addis Ababa's monsoonal climate makes the city prone to seasonal episodes of stagnant air. "These conditions make the city extremely vulnerable to air pollution problems, given the high levels of vehicle exhaust combined with unchecked burning for industrial purposes, trash removal and home-heating," Etyemezian says.

Launched with DRI seed funding from the Division of Atmospheric Sciences, the Center for Arid Lands Environmental Management and the office of the Vice President for Research, the project is also partly a global outreach for DRI. As an international goodwill gesture, the cost of much of the pilot project is being absorbed by DRI.

" Ethiopia is the tenth poorest country in the world, and as such, has limited resources for environmental monitoring and remediation. We hope we can help jumpstart their efforts to improve air quality by providing them with as much useful information as possible from this effort," Etyemezian says.

Old meets new—A “recycled truck tire makes a serviceable water trough for these donkeys in an Ethiopian village. (Photo by Vic Etyemezian)

Dr. Ali Yimer, an air quality specialist with Clark County and former UNLV/DRI post-doctoral researcher, is also helping by volunteering his time in supporting technical and logistical aspects of the project. Yimer, who has family in Ethiopia, first brought the need for this project to Etyemezian's attention after a visit to the country's EPA.

"We hope to see this become a long-term project in which Ethiopian doctoral students can study at DRI and take what they learn back to Africa," Yimer says. "In addition, we want to establish an ongoing exchange of ideas between DRI and Ethiopian scientists."

A similar study is also taking place in Conakry, the capital of the West African nation of Guinea. Scott Hedges, an embassy science fellow for the U.S. Department of State, is conducting a short-term ambient air-quality study of greater Conakry. Hedges hopes to recommend a long-term monitoring program for local authorities that will help assess air pollutant impacts there.

"We've been sharing ideas and refining our data-gathering techniques with Scott and the U.S. EPA. We have found a lot of similarities between their experience in Conakry and ours in Addis Ababa," Etyemezian says. "For example, similar to Addis Ababa, preliminary results from Conakry show that much of the airborne inhalable particulate matter is likely to originate from activities within the transportation sector."

DRI President Dr. Stephen G. Wells sees the Ethiopia project as part of a larger picture. "DRI has conducted environmental research in every state in the union and on every continent on Earth. Our air quality studies, for example, have taken us to Mexico City, Cairo and China —and now Ethiopia," Wells says. "It's no secret that air-quality problems and other threats to ecosystems are borderless global issues affecting us all. By advancing scientific knowledge and understanding of the Earth's environment, we're helping not just our world neighbors but ourselves as well."

Wells says he is committed to expanding DRI's international portfolio as part of the institute's vision of being the world's scientific leader in investigating the effects of human-induced environmental change and advancing environmental technologies.

And, if Etyemezian and his international colleagues can make their vision a reality, Ethiopia may some day be known as much for its clean air as for its rich cultural heritage.

— Ron Kalb