Ministry of Environment focuses on carbon markets and landscape restoration for 2024/25

By Robert Mutasi 

Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Aden Duale, has presented the strategic priorities of the Ministry for the 2024/25 Financial Year anchored on climate action, landscape restoration and economic transformation through responsible environmental practices. 

During a meeting with Deputy Chief of Staff for Performance and Delivery Management, Eliud Owalo, Duale highlighted achievements realized and those yet to be done by the Ministry.

Among the successes highlighted was how Kenya successfully hosted the Africa Climate Summit this year, 2023, to make the rest of the world take notice of the plight of the continent as far as climate is concerned and proffered solutions.

From there, Duale reassured the commitment of the Ministry towards the ambitious goal of planting 15 billion trees by 2032, which would ensure the fight against deforestation and the restoration of ecosystems.

The others are finalization of regulations for unlocking carbon markets in Kenya-a move that will attract investments in environmentally friendly initiatives.

This initiative is part of Kenya's larger climate strategy that also includes the recent review of the Climate Change Act to ensure its effectiveness against emerging environmental challenges.

The Ministry also intends to strengthen the enforcement of anti-pollution laws through NEMA to reduce environmental degradation across the country.

Duale reiterated the necessity of guiding Kenya toward a circular economy, especially in the way it manages waste.

This approach is done to reduce waste, promote reusing and recycling, and realize economic opportunities through sustainable means.

By transitioning to a circular economy, Kenya intends to create jobs while ensuring wealth creation in line with the country's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The Ministry is restoring degraded landscapes through the National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Strategy.

This will foster biodiversity to address soil erosion and lack of water, among other factors, that are exacerbated by climate change and bad land-use practices.

The fight against illegal logging and other forest-related crimes remains key, with the Ministry working hard towards ensuring that these practices are eradicated so that Kenya's forests can be managed in a sustainable way.

Those in the meeting included the Principal Secretaries, Dr. Festus Ng'eno, who represented Environment & Climate Change, and Mr. Gitonga Mugambi of the Forestry docket-an indication of emphatic commitment to the aforementioned very vital causes of the environment.