Our Planet with Anthony Mugo

Since 16 th August 2019 when the Daily Nation published the first instalment of the story about the wanton pollution of Nairobi River titled Toxic Flow , many expected the responsible authorities to urgently swing into action to address the tragic situation. Nearly two months since we read the series of articles, which was hailed as a masterpiece in investigative journalism, Kenyans are still waiting. Readers were moved by the horrific details which were comprehensively captured and backed with scientific evidence showing that toxic cancer-causing pollutants course down the more than 400 kilometres the river travels before pouring into the Indian Ocean. Lacking any alternatives, many residents of Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Tana River and Kilifi counties continue consuming the water and with it all the heavy metals known to induce cancer and other serious ailments. The lack of action to address this appears to go against ongoing efforts to realise the universal health pillar of

An emerging school of thought about implications of climate change  sheds light on a dimension of the phenomenon that is rarely given due attention - opportunities brought about by climate change. Proponents of this perspective, such as Dr Richard Munang, who heads the UN Environment’s Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security (EBAFOSA), are convinced that opportunities resulting from climate change can hold the answers to the continent’s perennial problems including youth unemployment and food insecurity. They feel that implementing actions to counter the negative impacts of climate change without linking them directly to outcomes that confer tangible day to day benefits to communities makes such actions unsustainable.    On the other hand, combining climate actions with economically empowering innovations that counter the negative impacts of climate change guarantees the sustainability of those actions and the improvement of the livelihoods of communities. They, therefore,

More than 45 bloggers recently gathered in Naivasha for an exciting training workshop on blogging around issues of the environment with special emphasis on climate change. The workshop, which ran between 25 th and 28 th April 2019, was the second of its kind, the first having been convened in Kisumu last year. It was hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry as an initiative of its Green Growth and Employment Project and the Directorate of Environmental Education and Awareness in partnership with the Climate Change Directorate. Most of the participating bloggers were members of the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE), whose popularity has risen rapidly over the past three years. BAKE is a community association of Kenya bloggers and content creators which promotes online content creation and free expression in Kenya. It was formed in 2011 after a series of discussions concerning access to information and consumption of online content in the country. It has become a

Kenya has remained at the forefront in making policies to strengthen its ability to adapt to the adverse effects of climate, take advantage that might result from the phenomenon and to meet ambitious mitigation targets. It will be recalled that mitigation to climate change involves taking measures to reduce the volume of greenhouse gases (GHGs) getting into the atmosphere or reducing GHGs already present there. During the most recent global negotiations held during the 24 th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - popularly known as CoP 24 held in Katowice, Poland between 2 nd and 14 th December 2018, Kenya reiterated its mitigation target of reducing by 30 per cent GHGs' emission by 2030. Mitigation is usually a complicated undertaking, particularly for developing countries. The reality is that countries with advanced economies achieved their development through the exploitation of natural resources from within and outsi