MORE AFRICAN COUNTRIES BACK LEAD-FREE PETROL

MORE AFRICAN COUNTRIES BACK LEAD-FREE PETROL

NAIROBI, 17 October (UN Environment Programme) -- An international effort to phase lead out of petrol in Africa is gathering pace as more and more countries develop and implement action plans for switching to unleaded gasoline.

The move to remove lead from petrol in Africa has accelerated after the issue was given backing at last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development with the launch of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles.

Removing lead from gasoline is one of the key goals of the Partnership, an alliance between the fuels and vehicles industry; African and international non-governmental organizations; the United Nations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); other international organizations; and governments, including the United States and Canada.

Delegates attending a meeting of the Partnership in the Kenyan capital Nairobi today heard that Ethiopia, Ghana and Mauritania have become some of the latest countries to join the continent-wide effort.  They have all set a date of January 2004 for removing lead from their road vehicle fuels.

Many Southern African countries are expected to announce the development of similar national strategies following a workshop held in Cape Town, South Africa, last week.

It mirrors actions, already under way in many East and West African countries, following phase-out workshops last year.  The countries of Central Africa are expected to join in the effort soon as a result of a workshop planned for early in 2004.

Colour-coded maps detailing the penetration of unleaded fuel since 2001 will highlight the impact of the initiative.  The maps, which are gradually turning blue as leaded petrol is withdrawn in favour of unleaded fuels, show the steady and accelerating progress in West, East and Southern Africa.

They indicate that the continent is on track for a complete phase-out of leaded petrol by 2005 or, as will be the case in some countries like South Africa, early 2006.

The wider goals of the Partnership are to improve air quality generally across the developing world by encouraging the deployment of cleaner fuels, such as unleaded and low-sulphur petrol and diesel, and improved technologies such as catalytic converters that can significantly cut exhaust fumes.

For example UNEP, working with the Government of the Netherlands, will provide direct support to seven African countries to support their air improvement plans.

In cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, another member of the Partnership, UNEP has drawn up plans to phase out diesel buses in Mexico City that are old and dirty.

The developed world has phased out lead in petrol and most of the fuel on sale at filling stations in Latin America and the Caribbean and across Asia is now lead-free.  But in Africa, sales are overwhelmingly dominated by leaded fuel.

Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, said:  “Air quality is a serious health issue in many parts of the world and the removal of lead from gasoline can make a real difference to the local environment.  Having unleaded gasoline available at the pumps means that catalytic converters can be fitted to vehicles, thereby reducing emissions that can contribute to health problems.  This has already happened in Western Europe, North America, parts of the Far East and elsewhere.”

“But much of Africa, mainly for technological reasons, a lack of awareness of the health risks and misconceptions about the impact of unleaded fuels on engines, has lagged behind.  However, partly because of work already under way and the new impetus from the global Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, the situation is rapidly changing and a lead-free Africa is in sight.  I am pleased to announce that Phase II of this important programme is now getting under way to provide direct support to national governments to develop and implement national action plans”, he said.

Mr. Toepfer said it was fitting that the meeting also came on the United Nations International Day for Poverty Eradication given the important links between health and prosperity and ill-health and poverty.

Sir Philip Watts, Chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, said:  “We are committed to working with others in the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles to phase out lead and to reduce sulphur in diesel.”

The importance of phasing out lead in Africa was also underscored by joint research by UNEP and Dr. A.O. Makokha of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) on lead levels in Kenya.

The findings show high lead levels in urban areas in both soil and on vegetables when compared with rural areas with the higher concentrations linked to lead contamination from motor vehicle fumes.

For example, lead concentrations in the soils of the Nairobi Central Business District are, on average, 250,000 micro-grams per kilogram and in Thika, a smaller urban area, they are around 140,000 micro-grams per kilogram, whereas in the rural town of Ithanga, lead levels are negligible.

Tests on kale leaves, known locally as sukuma wiki (“push the week”), show similar patterns.  Samples of this popular vegetable, bought from stalls in Nairobi’s Central Business District, show lead concentrations of about 5,000 micro-grams per kilogram, which is substantially above the World Health Organization limit of 300 micro-grams per kilogram.

In Thika, lead concentrations on kale were on average just over 2,000 micro-grams per kilogram, while the reference point of Ithanga show almost negligible levels of lead in kale.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in its Plan of Implementation has targets and timetables for a wide range of sustainable development issues.  It calls for the rapid, global phase-out of leaded petrol.  The work is also being guided by the Dakar Declaration of June 2002 in which countries backed a phase-out of lead in petrol by 2005.

Partners for this initiative have pledged nearly $2.5 million.  The UNEP is acting as a “clearing house”, through which the various partners will be gathering and exchanging information on key issues including the status of phase-outs in developing countries.

The UNEP is also assisting in developing and implementing action plans, organizing workshops to help countries phase out lead in petrol, as well as promote cleaner fuels and vehicles in general, bring in new partners and develop and distribute fact packs and other information materials to assist countries in informing consumers on the argument in favour of unleaded fuels.

The Partnership's Web site is www.unep.org/pcfv.

For more information, please contact:  Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of UNEP’s Division of Communications and Public Information, on tel.: +254-20-623292, mobile: +254-733-682656, e-mail: eric.falt@unep.org; or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media, on tel.: +254-2-623084, mobile: +254-733-632755, e-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org.

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