Walking, cycling, picnicking in Nairobi’s lush Karura Forest, it is often hard to believe one is a mere two kilometres from the centre of one of Africa’s busiest cities. The woodlands are sprawling and serene, home to extraordinary biodiversity - indigenous plants and trees, 200 bird species, including Hawk and Africa Crowned eagles, owls, butterflies and colobus monkeys – which provide a sharp contrast to nearby fume-choked roads.
Even in this tranquil setting, though, the quiet can suddenly be pierced by the “putt-putt” of a motor bike as teams of rangers scoot through the forest, patrolling for poachers and watching over visitors.
But those ear-splitting motorbikes, and the noxious fumes they emit, will soon be a thing of the past.
This month, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched an initiative to provide 99 electric motorcycles to four partners: Karura Forest, Kenya Power and Lighting company, Power Hive and Kisumu County. The pilot project, unveiled in the presence of government officials and business leaders, is part of a UNEP effort to support countries in combatting air pollution and climate change by shifting to electric vehicles.
By switching to electric vehicles, countries like Kenya can take a huge step towards making their cities greener and more liveable.
“An average motorcycle is ten times more polluting for the air per mile than a passenger car or light truck. UNEP is launching a robust fight against air pollution and energy conservation by unveiling the electric motorcycles. If this is not a revolution, kindly tell me what it is,” said the Governor of Kisumu County, Professor Peter Ayang’ Nyong’o, during the event.
“Shifting to electric bikes in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere will reduce costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create jobs,” said Joyce Msuya, UNEP Deputy Executive Director.
The initiative in Kenya is supported by UNEP with funding from the International Climate Initiative of the German Ministry for the Environment.
Motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles are a popular mode of transport in many low- and middle-income countries. There are some 270 million motorcycles on the road today, a number expected to swell to 400 million by 2050. Running on fossil fuels, emissions from these vehicles drive climate change and are hazardous to people.
UNEP’s ground-breaking Emob calculator reveals that a global shift to electric motorcycles could prevent 11 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, more than double the annual energy-related emissions in the United States of America. It would also save global motorcycle owners a combined US$ 350 billion by 2050, largely because electric vehicles are cheaper to fuel and maintain.
Easier to surprise “culprits”
The electric motorbikes were well-received by rangers in Karura Forest, though some admitted it took them a few “run outs” to adjust to the machines, which have different gear, clutch and braking systems.
“I was a little tense and nervous at first, but then became comfortable,” said ranger Eli Kosegi, 31. “They move swiftly and make much less noise. Rangers will now be able to patrol a much wider part of the forest … and because they are silent, it is easier to surprise any culprits.”
He cautioned rangers to learn to manage battery drain or they face the prospect of pushing their bikes to the nearest charging station.
Karura Forest provides a vital carbon sink for industrial activity in the city of 5 million and serves as an important water catchment area, with the Karura, Gitathuru and Ruaka rivers supporting groves of native bamboo and small wetlands.
Environmentalists stress the rapidly growing, and increasingly polluted, city needs ‘lungs’ to provide clean air, filter water and house the insects that pollinate urban farms and green spaces.
A proving ground
The electric motorcycle pilot aims to help policy makers assess the barriers to electric transport and to demonstrate that the shift away from fossil fuels is feasible.
In Kenya, the number of newly registered motorcycles, commonly used as taxis (boda-boda), was estimated in 2018 at 1.5 million and will likely grow to over 5 million by 2030. Though developing countries have the fastest growing fleets of bikes, most lack vehicle emissions standards or programmes and incentives to promote zero-emission vehicles.
UNEP’s Electric Mobility Programme helps developing countries make the shift from gas-powered to electric vehicles. The electric motorcycle pilot project follows the release of a landmark report last year that explored how heavily polluting used vehicles are being traded from the developed to the developing world. It is also part of a broader push to help the world lower carbon emissions and ward off the worst effects of climate change. For more on what countries must to in the coming years to slow planetary warming, check out the 2020 Emissions Gap Report.
UNEP’s eMob calculator can be used to assess – on a national and regional level – the level of emissions and air pollutants that will be reduced by shifting to electric motorcycles. It can also help policymakers develop a cost-benefit analysis including technology costs as well as fuel and maintenance savings stemming from a large- scale introduction of e-motorcycles.
