Our Planet with Anthony Mugo

By the time the global community agreed almost unanimously to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change in December 2015 in Paris, France, there was no doubt that the goal of preventing the rise of average global temperature by above two degrees centigrade from pre-industrial levels was not going to be achieved. It, therefore, required that all countries take drastic measures towards climate change mitigation. This meant setting reduction targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that they intended to meet, which are referred to as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. The two degree centigrade target (equivalent to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) was set during the Conference of the Parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Cancun Mexico in 2010. It was in the spirit of the UNFCCC, which is also known as the Climate Convention agreed upon during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The UNFCCC’s broad aim is to stabilise GHG concentrations in the atmosp

On June 1, 2017, the global community was taken by surprise when the President of the United States Donald Trump announced that the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.  Mr. Trump in his pursuit of the “America First” strategy said that the Agreement puts the United States at a permanent disadvantage and would “undermine the US economy.” It has been noted that the Agreement, which has been signed by 195 countries and the European Union, commits countries which are members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to join together to reduce emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Agreement also commits rich countries to support developing countries to adapt to climate change and also to carry out climate change mitigation actions that are within their capacities and therefore play their part in helping to maintain the global average temperature at below 2 0 C of where it was before the industrial revolution. Concern about

The entire African continent is estimated to be responsible for just about five per cent of carbon dioxide emissions globally. The means that Kenya’s contribution to this amount is less than one per cent and therefore negligible. The question then arises: should developing countries like Kenya worry about climate change mitigation? From an earlier post, climate change mitigation was described as being any effort intended at removing greenhouse gases (GHGs) already in the atmosphere; or reducing the amount of GHGs being released into the atmosphere by sources. The main sources of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas, are fossil fuels such as petroleum products and coal. Efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide the ends up in the atmosphere include replacing fossil fuels particularly petroleum products, coal and natural gas with renewable alternatives such as solar, wind, hydro or geothermal. Other measures include construction of “green buildings”, wh

In one of my recent post, I mentioned experiences of communities that live in Northen Kenya and the kind of struggles they have to go through because of negative impacts of climate change. In this post, I touch on the real life experiences of two wonderful people that I met during my sojourn in Marsabit County, having traversed it using the newly built international standard Isiolo Moyale Highway, which is part of the Cape Town Cairo international corridor. Because of the changing climate, Marsabit County like other Northern Kenya counties is facing serious challenges that are negatively affecting the livelihoods of men, women and even children. A few decades ago, droughts used to occur within cycles of five to ten years. During the intervening period, communities living close to hills were able to grow a wide variety of crops, including maize, beans, millet and potatoes. Unfortunately, drought cycles have become shorter. This has meant that the County does not receive enough ra

It is predicted that Kenya’s mean annual temperature will increase by between 0.8 and 1.5 0 C by the year 2030. The predictions also indicate that what are now regarded as cold nights will become very rare over the period 2030 to 2060. With regard to rainfall, it is predicted that average annual rainfall will increase by between 2 and 9 mm by 2060. These predictions are recorded in a report that Kenya has submitted to the United Nations capturing the status of climate change and particularly levels of greenhouse gases that the country currently emits specifying the sectors from where these gases particularly carbon dioxide are likely to come from. Kenya’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emission is negligible. However, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in Kenya is likely to increase as the country continues to pursue its dream of becoming a rapidly industrialising middle income country by 2030 as per Vision 2030. What do these changes in the country’s climate

The impact of climate change is getting particularly manifested in Northern Kenya in the form of a biting water shortage. In Marsabit County from where I am writing this post for example, members of the pastoralist community are reporting that they are solely relying on water delivered to them by the County government using water bowsers. Most boreholes have dried. Rains that the weatherman had forecast will be falling in October have not come, although the signs are now thankfully in place that it could rain anytime now. Drought has now become almost a permanent feature of the Northern Kenyan climate. The altered climatic conditions are forcing a gradual change in communities’ lifestyles that has never been seen before. For example, crop farmers who have grown maize and beans foe generations have resorted to growing Miraa (Khat) as an alternative livelihood option. Livestock keepers, whose cattle and goat herds have been decimated by drought are learning how to rear the more

It has now become fashionable to tout residential properties containing boreholes as the ultimate standard to consider while deciding where to purchase or build a property. This development should make Kenyans very afraid. If we dig deeper (no pan intended) into this recent development, we discover a distressing link between the increasing need for boreholes and the accelerated degeneration of our natural ecosystem. Such destruction is the result of past failure by the authorities to enforce regulations relating to the conservation of our natural heritage, particularly our main water towers, forests, wetlands, rivers and lakes. When the negative impacts of ongoing climate change are thrown into this mix, the emerging picture is truly frightening. What we are never told by those popularising boreholes is that each additional one being sunk today has to be deeper than those sunk earlier as our groundwater reserves get gradually depleted. In other words, the rate at which extr

Any action taken in order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) constitutes climate change mitigation. One might however ask: What can we do as individuals and at the household level in order to reduce the emission of GHGs? The answer and the action that can be taken are surprisingly simple. For example, the mere act of replacing a conventional electric bulb with an energy saving substitute amounts to a big contribution towards mitigation. It does not only reduce emissions but also significantly saves energy and by extension the cost of lighting homes. Consider this: although an energy saving bulb might cost three times the cost of an ordinary incandescent bulb, it lasts 10 times longer on average. With regard to mitigation against climate change the energy saving bulb has been found to help to prevent 100 kilogrammes of CO 2 per year over its working life of approximately 10,000 hours. In order to increase the benefits of clean energy even further, government

Climate change adaptation, which involves taking measures to cope with impacts of climate change, requires that new ways of producing food be devised in order to enable communities to sustain their livelihoods and achieve food security. Climate change, which is the observed change in the climate of a place over a period of at least 30 years and whose evidence can be determined from records such as average temperature or rainfall of a place, results in either new challenges for producing food or in some cases opportunities. In many countries which include Kenya, scientists predict that rainfall patterns will change and seasons will become less predictable because of climate change. This then means farmers will need to get accurate information about the amount, distribution and the duration of rains that are expected to be available during every growing season. In other words, farmers will need to practice what is now referred to as climate-smart agriculture. According to the Food

As I noted in an earlier post, taking measures to cope with climate change is what is referred to as climate change adaptation. Adaptation measures are necessary in order to enable communities to deal with the negative impacts of climate change and to take advantage of opportunities that might result from it. For example, climate change is expected to result in increased rainfall in some areas. This could mean that there is a better ability for such areas to produce food hence increasing communities’ food security. Other areas are expected to become drier and hotter, meaning that water scarcity could become the norm. One important and effective climate change adaptation measure is water harvesting. In many countries including Kenya, climate change is expected to lead to more frequent and severe extreme events such as droughts and floods. It is common for communities affected negatively by drought in one year to also suffer from floods the following year and in the proce

Experts agree that whatever is done towards efforts to reduce the accumulation of green-house gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere that has already occurred will not be reversible in the next 50 to 100 years unless an effective way is found to cool the earth. Current changes in the earth’s climate will therefore remain for the foreseeable future. It is the opinion of climate scientists that human activities that followed the beginning of the industrial age around 1900 are responsible for the change in the earth’s average temperature over the course of the last 100 years. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the global authority on the subject, has confirmed the role of human activity in contributing to current observed climate change. “It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the human activities that have resulted in the increase in GHGs concentrations,” note

One of the alarming reality about climate change is that no matter what humanity does to stop green-house gas (GHG) emissions, the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere is not likely to reduce over the next five to 10 decades. The gases, which include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (NO), tend to trap heat energy generated on earth’s surface when the sun’s energy gets converted into heat when it strikes the surface. The gases behave in a similar manner as the glass surrounding a green-house does, which is to trap heat. It is this trapped heat that causes global warming. The reason why the current change in the earth’s climate will not be reversed any time soon is that some of the GHGs, particularly CO2, take at least 100 years to break down. Human beings will therefore need to live with climate change as they explore ways of reducing GHG emissions or somehow removing them from the atmosphere. Taking measures to cope with climate change is what is referred t

My friend Brian amused us with a tale that sounded like it had come straight from the ancient times of hunter gatherer communities. During one of his travels up country, he witnessed some old men slaughtering a goat in preparation for a party that was to take place later in the day when one of his brothers was expected to arrive home to introduce his girlfriend. “After the carcass had been skinned, one of the men cut open the stomach, exposing the contents of the goat’s last meal. He then invited another old man to examine the semi-digested stuff. This process took nearly half an hour,” Brian narrated, making all of us laugh at what he had just described. On inquiring why such a ritual was necessary, Brian was informed that the old man examining the contents of the goat’s stomach could determine whether rains would be falling soon or if the community should brace for an extended drought, just by looking at what the goat had eaten. We later learnt that the contents of the