City report · Gauteng, South Africa
Roodepoort Air quality today
Air quality in Roodepoort currently reads AQI 37 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 37
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 6.6
- tree cover
- 21.1%
- trees in this area
- 66.3K
- more trees needed
- 28.0K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Roodepoort, South Africa (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 25, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Roodepoort · AQI 37 (Good)
Roodepoort's tree count comes to 66,288 trees across 12.57 km², 9 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 27,960 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Roodepoort today: AQI 37, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 18:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Little John Park , 13.3 km away · median of 3 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
6.6
PM10
—
NO₂
—
O₃
—
SO₂
—
CO
—
Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, Shift iT, Robin Kohl, Lion Pride - Serengeti
- 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 Roodepoort's daily AQI at 67 on average, from 51 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 155 on Nov 4.
Where Roodepoort stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Roodepoort: Below target
21.1% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
66,288
Target trees
94,248
More trees needed
27,960
CO₂ if planted / yr
615.1 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Roodepoort lost?
There was very little forest around Roodepoort in 2000, about 51 hectares, and about 15 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
The worst year was 2003, when about 3 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 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2002 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2003 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2004 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2005 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2006 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2007 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2009 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2010 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2011 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2012 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2014 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2016 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2017 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2018 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2019 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2020 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2021 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2022 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2025 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Roodepoort?
- Towns and roadscleared for good73% · 11 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good14% · 2 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good8.5% · 1 ha
Also: logging, 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
- 2,570 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 2,560 ha
- Overall change
- −4 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Roodepoort stayed about the same size, at about 2,560 hectares: new forest grew on about 137 hectares, and about 140 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
In the same region
Measured cities near Roodepoort
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Krugersdorp12.9 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 26%
- Air quality
- 37
- Randburg14.9 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 37%
- Air quality
- 44
- Randfontein17.2 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 14%
- Air quality
- 47
- Johannesburg17.6 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 4%
- Air quality
- 44
- Westonaria28.3 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 9%
- Air quality
- 38
- Germiston29.7 km
South Africa
- Tree cover
- 13%
- Air quality
- 44
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Frequently asked
Questions about Roodepoort
What is the air quality (AQI) in Roodepoort right now?
The latest reading for Roodepoort shows an AQI of 37 (Good), measured Nov 11, 18:00 local time by 3 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Little John Park , 13.3 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Roodepoort today?
At AQI 37 (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 Roodepoort been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Roodepoort's daily AQI at 67 on average, from 51 on Nov 9 to an hourly peak of 155 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 Roodepoort lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Roodepoort in 2000, about 51 hectares, and about 15 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Roodepoort stayed about the same size, at about 2,560 hectares: new forest grew on about 137 hectares, and about 140 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Roodepoort?
Roodepoort has an estimated 66,288 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 21.1% tree cover, 9 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Roodepoort need?
Roodepoort needs roughly 27,960 more trees to close a 9-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 615.1 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Roodepoort's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Roodepoort, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. 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 Roodepoort; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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