City report · Tanzania
Mtwara Air quality today
Air quality in Mtwara currently reads AQI 41 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 41
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 7.2
- tree cover
- 28.6%
- trees in this area
- 66.3K
- more trees needed
- 3.2K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Mtwara, Tanzania (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 18, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Mtwara · AQI 41 (Good)
Mtwara's tree count comes to 66,309 trees across 9.28 km² of land, 1 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 3,246 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Mtwara today: AQI 41, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Model estimate · no ground station nearby
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
7.2
PM10
9.4
NO₂
1.0
O₃
42.0
SO₂
0.6
CO
103.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Mtwara's daily AQI at 51 on average, from 44 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 65 on Nov 8.
Where Mtwara stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Mtwara: Below target
28.6% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 9.28 km² of land.
Trees in this area
66,309
Target trees
69,555
More trees needed
3,246
CO₂ if planted / yr
71.4 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Mtwara lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Mtwara has lost about 2,510 hectares of forest (about 3,500 football pitches): 32% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (99%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km south of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 2,510 haabout 3,500 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 32%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 2,490 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 133 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 124 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2014, when about 270 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 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2002 | 132 ha | 2 ha | 134 ha |
| 2003 | 49 ha | under 1 ha | 49 ha |
| 2004 | 42 ha | under 1 ha | 42 ha |
| 2005 | 33 ha | under 1 ha | 33 ha |
| 2006 | 44 ha | under 1 ha | 44 ha |
| 2007 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2008 | 141 ha | under 1 ha | 141 ha |
| 2009 | 26 ha | under 1 ha | 27 ha |
| 2010 | 143 ha | 1 ha | 144 ha |
| 2011 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2012 | 78 ha | 1 ha | 79 ha |
| 2013 | 162 ha | 1 ha | 163 ha |
| 2014 | 269 ha | 1 ha | 270 ha |
| 2015 | 52 ha | under 1 ha | 53 ha |
| 2016 | 107 ha | 1 ha | 108 ha |
| 2017 | 180 ha | 5 ha | 185 ha |
| 2018 | 65 ha | under 1 ha | 66 ha |
| 2019 | 139 ha | 1 ha | 140 ha |
| 2020 | 123 ha | under 1 ha | 123 ha |
| 2021 | 87 ha | 1 ha | 88 ha |
| 2022 | 163 ha | 2 ha | 165 ha |
| 2023 | 180 ha | under 1 ha | 180 ha |
| 2024 | 167 ha | 1 ha | 168 ha |
| 2025 | 66 ha | under 1 ha | 66 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Mtwara?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good75% · 1,890 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good24% · 604 ha
Also: shifting farming, 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
- 2,420 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 1,980 ha
- Overall change
- −441 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Mtwara shrank from about 2,420 hectares to 1,980 hectares, a net loss of about 441 hectares (−18%). New forest grew on about 71 hectares, but 512 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 Mtwara
What is the air quality (AQI) in Mtwara right now?
The latest reading for Mtwara shows an AQI of 41 (Good), observed Nov 11, 07:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Mtwara today?
At AQI 41 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Mtwara been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Mtwara's daily AQI at 51 on average, from 44 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 65 on Nov 8. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Mtwara lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Mtwara has lost about 2,510 hectares of forest (about 3,500 football pitches): 32% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (99%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss has stayed about the same: about 133 hectares a year in 2021–2025, against 124 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Mtwara shrank from about 2,420 hectares to 1,980 hectares, a net loss of about 441 hectares (−18%). New forest grew on about 71 hectares, but 512 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Mtwara?
Mtwara has an estimated 66,309 trees across the 9.28 km² of land measured — 28.6% tree cover, 1 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Mtwara need?
Mtwara needs roughly 3,246 more trees to close a 1-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 71.4 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Mtwara'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 Mtwara; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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