City report · Delta, Nigeria
Sapele Air quality today
Air quality in Sapele currently reads AQI 80 (Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
AQI 80
Air quality right now
Moderate
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 30.1
- tree cover
- 30.2%
- trees in this area
- 90.9K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Sapele, 331107, Delta, Nigeria (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 30, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Sapele · AQI 80 (Moderate)
Sapele's tree count comes to 90,891 trees across 12.04 km² of land, already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Sapele today: AQI 80, Moderate
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 205 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 205 km, e.g. Buguma and Port Harcourt
Health signal
Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
PM2.5
30.1
PM10
18.2
NO₂
2.9
O₃
67.0
SO₂
0.8
CO
203.0
- 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 Sapele's daily AQI at 72 on average, from 65 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 125 on Nov 9.
Where Sapele stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Sapele: Healthy tree cover
30.2% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.04 km² of land.
Trees in this area
90,891
Target trees
90,891
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Sapele lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Sapele has lost about 1,880 hectares of forest (about 2,600 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (93%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2018: satellite photo from January 2018 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km south of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 1,880 haabout 2,600 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 10%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 1,750 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Forest loss is speeding up: about 165 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 119 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2025, when about 294 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 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2002 | 51 ha | 3 ha | 53 ha |
| 2003 | 6 ha | 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2004 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2005 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2006 | 27 ha | 1 ha | 28 ha |
| 2007 | 33 ha | 1 ha | 35 ha |
| 2008 | 34 ha | 2 ha | 36 ha |
| 2009 | 34 ha | under 1 ha | 34 ha |
| 2010 | 25 ha | 2 ha | 27 ha |
| 2011 | 67 ha | 2 ha | 69 ha |
| 2012 | 33 ha | under 1 ha | 33 ha |
| 2013 | 22 ha | 10 ha | 33 ha |
| 2014 | 56 ha | under 1 ha | 57 ha |
| 2015 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2016 | 84 ha | 4 ha | 88 ha |
| 2017 | 234 ha | 18 ha | 252 ha |
| 2018 | 55 ha | 6 ha | 60 ha |
| 2019 | 47 ha | under 1 ha | 48 ha |
| 2020 | 140 ha | 5 ha | 145 ha |
| 2021 | 77 ha | 2 ha | 78 ha |
| 2022 | 240 ha | 4 ha | 244 ha |
| 2023 | 46 ha | 3 ha | 49 ha |
| 2024 | 151 ha | 10 ha | 161 ha |
| 2025 | 234 ha | 60 ha | 294 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Sapele?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good55% · 1,030 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good32% · 605 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good6.1% · 114 ha
Also: shifting farming, logging, storms, floods and other natural causes, 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
- 17,200 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 17,100 ha
- Overall change
- −92 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Sapele stayed about the same size, at about 17,100 hectares: new forest grew on about 1,270 hectares, and about 1,370 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 Sapele
What is the air quality (AQI) in Sapele right now?
The latest reading for Sapele shows an AQI of 80 (Moderate), observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 205 km, 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 Sapele today?
At AQI 80 (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 Sapele been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Sapele's daily AQI at 72 on average, from 65 on Nov 10 to an hourly peak of 125 on Nov 9. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Sapele lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Sapele has lost about 1,880 hectares of forest (about 2,600 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (93%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Forest loss is speeding up: about 165 hectares a year in 2021–2025, up from 119 hectares a year in 2016–2020. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Sapele stayed about the same size, at about 17,100 hectares: new forest grew on about 1,270 hectares, and about 1,370 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Sapele?
Sapele has an estimated 90,891 trees across the 12.04 km² of land measured — 30.2% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Sapele need?
Sapele has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Sapele'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 Sapele; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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