| Subject: Air Pollution in Nairobi City County
THAT, aware that Article 42 of the Constitution 2010 provides that every person has the right to a clean and healthy environment including the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through legislative and other measures; further aware that Section 5 of the Nairobi City County Solid Waste Management Act, 2015 provides that every person within the County is entitled to a clean and healthy environment and has a duty to safeguard and enhance the quality of the environment; cognizant that the functions of control of air pollution are vested on county governments pursuant to Paragraph 3 of Part Two of the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution; concerned that air pollution is a perennial concern across the globe especially because it has the greatest environmental risk to health of vulnerable populations as shown by the studies, which have pointed out that air pollution has a negative effect on a child’s neurodevelopment and is linked to some behavioral disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; further concerned that according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in 2014, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children in the County are respiratory diseases; noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates shows that 90 percent of people worldwide breathe air containing high levels of pollutants where many people are exposed to fine particles in polluted air that penetrates human body system, causing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; acknowledging that the County Government developed a 2019-2023 Air Quality Action Plan with the objective of building capacity to develop, implement and enforce improved policy and regulatory frameworks for air quality management in the County; this Assembly urges the County Executive in conjunction with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to urgently develop the Air Quality Policy and Legislation to provide for mechanisms for improving air quality in the County and submit the same to the County Assembly for approval. |