{"id":104825,"date":"2025-12-01T05:48:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104825"},"modified":"2025-12-01T05:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:48:59","slug":"air-quality-crisis-deepens-as-jamestown-labadi-and-abofu-emerge-as-ghanas-toxic-triangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104825","title":{"rendered":"Air quality crisis deepens as Jamestown, Labadi, and Abofu emerge as Ghana\u2019s toxic triangle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 31 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Two decades of air quality data from Accra reveal a troubling trend: while households are slowly moving away from wood and charcoal, waste burning is erasing those gains and putting millions at risk. <\/p>\n

That warning, delivered by leading researchers, shaped deliberations at the 2025 Breathe Accra National Stakeholder Convening, which aimed to turn scientific findings into real policy action.<\/p>\n

A 20-year analysis shows stalled progress \u2014 and a new threat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr Raphael Arku, whose team has monitored pollution sources for 20 years, said the city\u2019s major contributors have shifted in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have found is that the proportion that is coming from traffic remains the same. It hasn\u2019t changed over the last 20 years,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He noted that Ghana has made real gains in reducing emissions from wood fuel and charcoal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one that is coming from biomass burning\u2026 that part has reduced significantly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But those gains are being cancelled out by rising trash burning.<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are also not doing well in trash collection. So people are now burning the trash\u2026 It\u2019s making up for the gains that we make in biomass burning,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that means we are not making much progress anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed that addressing biomass burning, traffic emissions, and waste burning together would allow Ghana to \u201ccut down air pollution more than half from the current level that we have right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Columbia University\u2019s Dr. Dan Westervelt said Ghana\u2019s scrapped emissions levy had almost no measurable impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not see any PM2.5 change between the post-levy period and the pre-levy period\u2026 very, very tiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mapping Accra\u2019s pollution hotspots: Jamestown, La, Abofu emerge as high-risk zones<\/strong><\/h3>\n

PSS Urbania, a Breathe Accra grantee working across 13 districts, found severe sulphur dioxide levels in several communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 4 sites in 10 districts, SO\u2082 levels were very, very, very high,\u201d they reported, linking the trend to open burning and light industry.<\/p>\n

Their district analysis highlighted major disparities:<\/p>\n