As the populations in West African cities continue to climb, the issue of air pollution poses a large threat that has yet to receive proper attention from authorities.

Almost nothing is known about the pollutants that emerge from new urban centers or about their impact on weather systems, crops and public health at large, reports Quartz Africa. There are .

Anthropogenic emissions, which are those caused by human activity, have been in West Africa, particularly in cities along the Guinea Coast. As much as is exposed to levels of air pollution, exceeding what the World Health Organization (WHO) deems safe.

“Not only is pollution in these cities killing local residents, we found these emissions may even be altering the climate along the coast of West Africa, leading to changes in the clouds and so potentially to rainfall with devastating effects," wrote Matthew Evans, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York and co-author of a new on the role of air pollution in climate change in West Africa.

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Evans and the lead author of the study, Peter Knippertz, are concerned that these pollutants will , a sensitive atmospheric circulation system that controls everything from wind to temperature to rainfall in the region. With the , the effects of air pollution can only worsen.

“We do know that in Africa, there’s a very major problem with indoor air pollution,” said Dr. Carlos Dora, an official with WHO’s Department for Public Health and Environment. and may not capture the scope of the problem, he added.

There are a , such as car exhaust, wood and garbage burning, cooking indoors with fuel stoves, the use of millions of diesel electricity generators and petrochemical plants. Indoor pollution, often from fuel stoves and diesel generators, is believed to have from 2012, the highest deaths per capita from indoor pollution of any region in the world.

A study posted in the Environmental Research Letters estimates that of the world’s combustion-driven sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 2030, an increase from about 5 percent each in 2005.

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South Africa is one of few countries to take the . Because ozone and tiny particles are of particular worry, air quality standards were implemented in 2009. Restrictions were projected to begin this year into 2016, according to Rebecca Garland, senior researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria.

have gotten considerable attention as an initiative to combat air pollution. However, some experts warn that some of the than on other benefits, such as increased energy efficiency and preventing forest degradation.

WHO will soon release information about how .

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