Majority of Nyeri residents aware of climate change, says County government official

Nyeri,

Wednesday 11 October 2023

KNA by Samuel Maina

Majority of Nyeri residents aware of climate change, says County government official

The County Government of Nyeri has conducted numerous public sessions to sensitize residents about the ravages of climate change.

County Climate Change Director Yvonne Mathenge says a lot of work and resources has already been put in place to ensure residents are prepared to confront any adverse changes wrought by climate changes in the climate.

 In addition, the county government through the Department of Environment and Agriculture has embarked on training farmers on mitigation measures like water harvesting, increasing the percentage of woodlots in their farms and planting of drought resistant crops as one way of combating changes in climate.

“We are working as a team with other departments including the Department of Agriculture to ensure members of the public are fully aware about the effects of Climate change and also equipped with skills on how to tackle such changes. In addition we have advised farmers on the need to harvest water from the expected El Nino rains in order to have ready back up stocks to use once the rains have subsided,” she said.

In May this year Ms. Mathenge said the aftermath of the long dry spell in the country that resulted in drying up of rivers and depressed yields on major cash crops such as tea and coffee was a wakeup call for urgent intervention measures in addressing challenges posed by climate change.

Ms Mathenge said the county had begun undertaking a Participatory Climate Risk Assessment Change (PCRA) in all the 30 wards to identify existing climate change risks and hazards in each locality in order to come up with workable mitigation and adaptation measurers.

“Climate change is bad and this has been witnessed by the long drought that we had and the failed crops. And also, when we get into the highlands, we’ve had very low yields for a crop that was otherwise doing very well, a case in point is coffee and tea. I think these were the biggest indicators and if you have the highlands affected you can only imagine what the semi-arid areas are going through which was also witnessed by the number of water conflicts that the Water Department had to solve in the various communities because there was not enough flow of water,” she said.

The Department of Water, Environment and Climate Change has already conducted PCRA meetings in all the 30 wards.

There were a total of 20 members who formed part of the ward Climate Change committee members including representatives from the interest groups, community group members, government officers, and private organisations.

 Deliberations from the meetings were to be consolidated into a common document that would form the basis of the County’s Climate Action Plan.

The plan was among others intended to highlight the programmes and projects that will be prioritized as far as dealing with climate change is concerned.

Meanwhile a team from the National Treasury paid a visit to Nyeri on Monday to conduct an assessment of the County Climate Change Institutional Support Grant (CCIS), under the Financing Locally Led Climate Action Program (FLLoCA).

The objective of the assessment was to strengthen climate action efforts at the county level.

The primary goal was to enhance transparency and efficiency in locally led climate action programs, according to a social media post by the County Government of Nyeri.

Financial accountability was a central theme of the audit, with the auditors expected to examine financial records, budget allocation, and expenditure reports.

The National Treasure was to ensure that funds allocated for climate action initiatives are used responsibly and effectively with maximum environmental benefits.

Furthermore, the audit will examine the county's policy towards community engagement, and citizen participation in climate projects while emphasizing the need to involve marginalized groups.

During the brief meeting, CECM for Finance, Economic Planning and ICT, Robert Thuo, welcomed the team and expressed the importance of the FLLoCA program in building resilience against the effects of climate change.

Kenya is coming out of her worst food crises in over four decades following six consecutive failed rain seasons owing to what experts attribute to effects of worsening global climatic changes.

This situation had pushed more than 5.3 million Kenyans to the brink of a humanitarian crisis with hundreds of animals already reported to have died in the former Northern Frontier Districts.

 It is estimated that world leaders need to commit at least US $100 billion each year for climate financing on adaptation and mitigation measures, according to Global Citizens ,an international non-profiting organization working on eradicating poverty and fighting environmental degradation .

The organization also says there needs to be a concrete measure by world leaders in financing climate mitigation efforts in poor countries besides advancing measures that will keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

 “There needs to be decisive collective action focused on supporting low-income countries and keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. And we need to prioritize food security, nutrition, and livelihoods by directing climate adaptation resources to rural communities and smallholder farms, while working to protect and restore nature in partnership with local and marginalized communities,” reads a recent report from the organization.

At the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, developed countries promised a collective goal of mobilizing billions of dollars every year to assist poor countries address the ravages of climate change.

However, the funds have not been forthcoming despite numerous protests from poor countries who continue to bear the brunt of worsening climate changes despite contributing less than three percent of all carbon emissions in the world.

Courtesy; KNA