Guinea Air+:air quality in Conakry and Labé

Guinea has no air quality monitoring network. In Conakry, pollution comes from traffic, open waste burning and industrial and mining zones. In Labé, it comes from Harmattan dust and biomass burning. Without data, no one knows where and when the air becomes a health risk, or who is most exposed, starting with children. The 2019 Environmental Code provides for emission thresholds that have never been set in numbers.

With the Cité des Sciences et de l'Innovation de Guinée (CSIG), which leads the project, we are deploying a hybrid network in Conakry and Labé: 16 solar-powered AirGradient sensors connected over 4G and 2 Kunak near-reference stations for calibration. Sensors are installed on schools, health facilities and secure sites. PM2.5 is measured continuously for 12 months and published as open data on OpenAQ.

kaikai brings its experience from Senegal, where more than 40 sensors are already deployed: installation, maintenance, calibration and transfer of protocols to CSIG's teams. The data will support Guinea's first national air quality standards and alerts to families, schools and health services during pollution peaks. The project is funded by the University of Chicago's EPIC Air Quality Fund.

Cité des Sciences et de l'Innovation de Guinée (CSIG), University of Labé, Institut de Recherche en Environnement de Guinée (IREG), AirGradient.