Source: Ariadne Baskin – African (Clean Mobility Week) March 13 2018.
The world is increasingly urbanising, with Africa’s urban dwellers projected to hit around a billion in 2050. This trend has resulted in mobility revolution with an increased rate of motorization, but with devastating health results in key African cities such as Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Dakar (Hitchcock, Conlan, Kay, Brannigan, & Newman, 2014), with the need for clean and safe mobility in Africa attracting the attention of the policy makers, owing to over reliance on used vehicles, and owing to the fact that , dirty air in Africa could be killing 712,000 people a year, prematurely, compared with approximately 542,000 from unsafe water, 275,000 from malnutrition and 391,000 from unsafe sanitation (Dr Rana, 2016).
The United Nations (UNEP) is leading several global partnerships supporting a shift to cleaner and more efficient vehicles, including the Global Fuel Economy Initiative, eMob – promoting electric mobility, and the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV). The PCFV is the leading global initiative to support countries in introducing cleaner (used) vehicles standards, regulations and policies. ARSO in collaboration with Afreximbank has initiated, May 2019, under the ARSO Technical Working Group 08-4, a programme for the development of Regulatory Framework to Africa’s automotive sector, targeting the adoption of Clean Mobility solutions through standardisation. This initiative promoting transition to clean fuels and vehicle technologies, supported with harmonised continental regulatory Framework, and addresses the SDGs, 3-Good Health and Well-being; 6-Clean Water and Sanitation; 7-Affordable and Clean Energy; 11- Sustainable Cities and Communities; 13- Climate Action. The Automotive Stakeholders, held a meeting on 19th June 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya to develop roadmap for activities. First harmonisation meeting is scheduled for August 31st, 2019. 18 standards for harmonisation has been identified, with four being given the first priority:
- Evaluation of new vehicles – Vehicle model homologation, South Africa (Team Leader) & Ghana volunteered to develop the WD.
- Testing of roadworthiness of used motor vehicles – Code of practice, Zimbabwe (Team Leader) & Kenya volunteered to develop the WD.
- Code of practice – Roadside roadworthiness assessment of motor vehicles, Tanzania (Team Leader) & Zanzibar volunteered to develop the WD.
- Code of practice – Vehicle test station evaluation with Sierra Leone (Team Leader), Nigeria and Rwanda volunteered to develop the WD.