City report · Mbeya, Tanzania
Katumba Air quality today
Air quality in Katumba currently reads AQI 62 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Air quality right now
AQI 62
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 15.5
- tree cover
- 67.0%
- trees in this area
- 210K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Rungwe, Mbeya, Tanzania, the United Republic of (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 24, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Katumba · AQI 62 (Moderate)
Katumba's tree count comes to 210,487 trees across 12.57 km², already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Katumba today: AQI 62, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 19:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Model estimate · no ground station nearby
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
15.5
PM10
16.9
NO₂
2.3
O₃
85.0
SO₂
0.8
CO
178.0
- Outdoor exercise
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier
- Windows
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution
- Mask
- Not needed for most people
- Air purifier
- Worth running if you are sensitive
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Katumba's daily AQI at 75 on average, from 66 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 94 on Nov 4.
Where Katumba stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Katumba: Healthy tree cover
67.0% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
210,487
Target trees
210,487
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Katumba lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Katumba has lost about 1,370 hectares of forest (about 1,900 football pitches): 19% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (89%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km north of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1,370 haabout 1,900 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 19%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 1,230 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is slowing down: about 62 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 135 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2020, when about 333 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 33 ha | 16 ha | 48 ha |
| 2002 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2003 | 14 ha | 7 ha | 21 ha |
| 2004 | 7 ha | 3 ha | 10 ha |
| 2005 | 23 ha | 17 ha | 40 ha |
| 2006 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2007 | 4 ha | 8 ha | 12 ha |
| 2008 | 12 ha | 5 ha | 17 ha |
| 2009 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2010 | 10 ha | 7 ha | 17 ha |
| 2011 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2012 | 53 ha | 20 ha | 73 ha |
| 2013 | 14 ha | 3 ha | 17 ha |
| 2014 | 42 ha | 7 ha | 49 ha |
| 2015 | 58 ha | 3 ha | 61 ha |
| 2016 | 53 ha | 5 ha | 57 ha |
| 2017 | 27 ha | under 1 ha | 27 ha |
| 2018 | 120 ha | 18 ha | 138 ha |
| 2019 | 119 ha | 3 ha | 122 ha |
| 2020 | 319 ha | 14 ha | 333 ha |
| 2021 | 70 ha | 5 ha | 75 ha |
| 2022 | 39 ha | under 1 ha | 39 ha |
| 2023 | 39 ha | 2 ha | 41 ha |
| 2024 | 66 ha | 3 ha | 68 ha |
| 2025 | 82 ha | 2 ha | 84 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Katumba?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good89% · 1,220 ha
- Loggingcan grow back9.9% · 136 ha
Also: storms, floods and other natural causes, towns and roads, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 21,700 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 21,300 ha
- Overall change
- −369 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Katumba stayed about the same size, at about 21,300 hectares: new forest grew on about 365 hectares, and about 734 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Katumba
What is the air quality (AQI) in Katumba right now?
The latest reading for Katumba shows an AQI of 62 (Moderate), observed Nov 10, 19:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Katumba today?
At AQI 62 (Moderate): fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier. Windows: fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution. Masks: not needed for most people. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Katumba been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Katumba's daily AQI at 75 on average, from 66 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 94 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Katumba lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Katumba has lost about 1,370 hectares of forest (about 1,900 football pitches): 19% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (89%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss is slowing down: about 62 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 135 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Katumba stayed about the same size, at about 21,300 hectares: new forest grew on about 365 hectares, and about 734 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Katumba?
Katumba has an estimated 210,487 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 67.0% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Katumba need?
Katumba has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Katumba's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Rungwe; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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