Air pollution poses a significant threat to human health, the economy, and the delicate ecological balance. Just like many cities in Africa, Nairobi, air quality is likely to worsen due to pollution. Currently, its annual particulate matter (PM) is 2.5 exceeding the World Health Organization’s guidelines by more than double.
With this pressing issue, media reports have been weak or hardly articulated how to reverse the emerging challenge.
To enable more effective reporting, a media workshop on air pollution was organized Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) and the Global Clean Air Catalyst Project consortium funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 30 journalists from local, national, and international media organizations participated with a majority being women.
The workshop was officially inaugurated by the Nairobi City County’s Chief Executive in charge of the Environment, Water, Food and Agriculture Maureen Njeri.
She expressed optimism that the training would lead to higher-quality reporting on air pollution in Nairobi. Njeri emphasized the importance of shedding light on the impact of air pollution on human beings, animals, birds and plants to catalyze efforts to curb pollution.
A participant at the training, admits that “the workshop was eye-opening. I am equipped to report on air quality better interfaced with data for audience consumption but also to push authorities to implement policies to curb pollution”.
Trainers at the three-day workshop were: Dr. George Mwaniki – Head of Air Quality, WRI Africa; Dr. Paul Njogu – Chair of the N-AIR Research and Data Committee; Maurice Kavai – Deputy Director of Air Quality and Climate Change, Nairobi City County; Sammy Simiyu – Co-Chair of the Health Committee, Vital Strategies; Purity Munyambu – Gender Specialist, WRI Africa; Beth Mugo – Gender and Inclusive Development Specialist, USAID; Judith Mutheu – The Conversation Africa; Gideon Lubisa – Embedded Systems and Network Support Engineer, International Relations AirQO; Stella Paul – Clean Air Catalyst Project Officer, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network; and Jackline Lidubwi – Project Coordinator, Clean Air Catalyst.
