Hommam Al Nassim 
The African continent has been hit by increasing numbers of premature deaths annually as a result of air pollution, according to a joint report by Greenpeace in the Middle East and North Africa.
The report, released on March 28, revealed that the energy sector in North Africa, especially the oil and gas industry, is one of the largest contributors to air pollution emissions, based on satellite observations of sulphur dioxide at air pollution hotspots in several countries, including Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
The report pointed out that Tunisia records an average of 2,100 deaths from “toxic air” annually, which means a daily average of 6 deaths due to air pollution.
There are about 5.4 million deaths annually from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels around the world.
On the economic side, the report stressed that the economic cost of air pollution is estimated at approximately 8 billion US dollars per day, representing 3.3% of the world’s GDP.
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