Study: Northern Kenya lacks climate change plans despite high vulnerability

Kenya has been hailed as being at the forefront in the formulation of laws and policies on climate change. The 2010 National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) was a first in the region. By the time of its launch, other regional countries had not yet begun formulating their national climate change response plans. The launch of the NCCRS was followed by the first National Climate Change Action Plan (2013 – 2017), a comprehensive blueprint to guide Kenya in following a low carbon, climate resilient development pathway on its journey to becoming a middle-income country with a high standard of life in line with Vision 2030.

A Report of a new study commissioned by a leading Kenyan NGO involved in diverse development initiatives, including environment and natural resources management, known as Act. Change. Transform! (Act!), reveals that counties in northern Kenya are yet to mainstream climate change in their laws and policies despite the area being the most vulnerable to its negative impacts. The baseline study, which was funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), sought to determine the level to which national climate change laws and policies have been integrated with county-level plans and legislation relating to climate change.

It also sought to establish the extent to which programmes geared towards climate change adaptation and mitigation in northern Kenya are informed by national policies and laws relating to combating the negative impacts of the phenomenon. In line with provisions of the Constitution of Kenya (2010), which requires that public participation be part of legislation and policy formulation processes, the study also sought evidence about the level of public participation taking place during these processes in northern Kenya.The baseline study titled: Status of Climate Change and Environment in the Northern Counties of Kenya was carried out in five counties namely: Garissa, Mandera, Marsabit, Turkana and Wajir between October 2017 and February 2018. It was undertaken by experts from a firm known as Agribase Consultants and coordinated by this writer.

One of the main findings was that despite county governments showing a high level of goodwill to integrate climate change into their laws, policies and sectoral plans, such mainstreaming has only occurred to a small extent. Despite its negative impacts on the main livelihood practice of communities living in northern Kenya, which is nomadic pastoralism, climate change continues to be regarded as merely a cross-cutting issue. In effect, most of the counties where the study was carried out do not have departments of directorates devoted to climate change planning and implementation of programmes geared towards adaptation and mitigation.

“A general finding was that County governments in northern Kenya have recognised climate change as a phenomenon that can reverse major development gains. They have therefore put in place measures to enhance communities’ resilience and adaptive capacity to the negative impacts of climate change,” notes the study's Report. “Among the key recommendations include the need for northern counties to establish points of coordination of climate change activities preferably within the ministries responsible for environment, water and natural resources. Ideally, such points should be full-fledged directorates staffed with officials with expert knowledge of the subject and with dedicated budgets.”

However, the study showed that some counties had made much more progress in laying down policy formulation structures on climate change, particularly with regard to public participation and financing of prioritised response actions. Wajir County, in particular, has formulated a law - Wajir Climate Change Fund Act 2016 - which requires the County Government to set aside two (2) percent of its total budget to finance climate change programmes. The County has also established an elaborate structure for public participation which begins at ward level and goes up to the County headquarters level - the County Steering Group, which is chaired by the Governor. Although Garissa has not made as much progress as Wajir, relevant laws and policies informed by national policies are at various stages of enactment, a situation that places it ahead of other northern counties in mainstreaming climate change into planning.

It is notable however that both Wajir and Garissa are focus counties in an initiative known as the Adaptation Consortium (AdaConsortium). The Ada Consortium was started in 2010 as a pilot for planning approaches aimed at addressing climate change adaptation needs. Its work began in Isiolo County but it has since expanded to four other counties namely: Kitui, Makueni, Garissa and Wajir.

Funded by DFID and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the AdaConsortium is led by the National Drought Management Authority. Among its achievement is the establishment of an effective mechanism to facilitate community members to play a key role in prioritising projects geared towards enhancing resilience and drought preparedness on one hand; and accessing climate finance through the formal county, national and global levels on the other. The new study recommends that an approach similar to that adopted by the AdaConsortium be replicated in other northern counties but be contextualised to suit local realities.

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