“Bamako-AirWatch”, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, FST/USTTB, Mali

Bamako city faces increasing air pollution due to rapid urbanization, traffic congestion, biomass burning, and dust. Despite this growing risks of air pollution, the city lacks a continuous and reliable ground-based PM2.5 monitoring system, which limits the government’s ability to quantify public health risks, identify pollution hotspots, design targeted environmental policies, track compliance with air quality standards. Without ground-based local data, policy decisions rely on global air pollution estimates, which are insufficient for city-level interventions. The project “Bamako-AirWatch”, aims to generate evidence for clean air policy through PM2.5 monitoring system. The project will first install and operate a network of 20 low-cost PM2.5 sensors which data will publish in real-time on an open platform. Then, the project will produce evidence-based policy recommendations and regulatory actions to engage decision-makers to implement concrete interventions which supports public health protection and environmental governance in the Bamako District.

The EPIC award will support “Bamako-AirWatch” project to establish the first publicly accessible air quality monitoring network in the city of Bamako. The data will serve the action of the National Services in charge of Air Pollution Control in building a National Air quality standard and come out with a National air quality policy. Through real-time monitoring of PM2.5, “Bamako-AirWatch” will formulate evidence-based policy recommendations and regulatory measures to encourage decision-makers to implement concrete interventions. This project thus contributes directly to public health protection and environmental governance in the Bamako district.

Prof. Souleymane SANOGO, Project Lead, “Bamako-AirWatch”, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, FST/USTTB, Mali