Dr Evans Kituyi is a research scientist and a Senior Programme Specialist at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)’s Climate Change Programme, charged with overseeing the successful implementation of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA)programme jointly funded by Canada’s IDRC and UK’s DFID. The Pathways to Resilience in Semi-arid Economies (PRISE) consortium partners led by the UK based Overseas Development Institute (ODI)is one of the four consortia implementing CARIAA.

In Kenya, the PRISE consortium researchers have been working closely with vulnerable pastoral communities in Laikipia to understand how such communities can enhance the value chains of their livestock so as to avoid huge losses especially during extreme droughts.

In essence, the project is looking at how pastoralist communities may convert the climate change threat to the sector into opportunities for resilience.

Dr Kituyi spoke to PAMACC News reporter ISAIAH ESIPISU about the ongoing research in Kenya.

Q. What is Pathways to Resilience in Semi-arid Economies (PRISE) project all about?

This is a 5-year multi-country research project covering Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kenya, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. The consortium is working in collaboration with a team of country partners who have extensive expertise in research and policy on climate change and semi-arid regions to generate new knowledge about how economic development in semi-arid regions can be made more equitable and resilient to climate change.

The project supports decision-makers in local and national governments, civil society and businesses to strengthen their commitment to influencing policy interventions and investments that create more equitable and resilient economic development.
This is achieved by transforming the way key policy-makers make decisions through deepening their understanding of how climate change presents both threats and opportunities for economies in semi-arid areas.

Q. How has climate change and climate variations affected pastoral communities in Kenya?

Extreme climatic conditions have always lowered value of livestock animals and their products. When this happens, it reduces incomes from the markets, and in extreme conditions, it leads to death of the animals. This leads to poverty. As a result, desperate communities will always opt to raid neighbouring communities so as to replenish their lost stocks. More often than not, the stock theft leads to people slaying each other, and houses being torched, which further accelerates poverty.

Q.  Following lessons learned from the project so far, how can pastoralist communities enhance value chain of their animals and develop resilience to climate change and climate variations?

The first one is commercialization of livestock production. This can be done in collaboration with the private sector and the government. If the animals are sold way before they are emaciated, they will fetch good income for the owner, which can help them restock once the dry season is over.

There is therefore need for pastoral communities to be given adequate access to market information for easy commercialization of their animals.

The second one is the need for improved financial services for pastoralist communities. This will help them manage their finances well after selling their stocks, hence buy more stock once the climatic conditions are conducive.

Third, there is need for increased investment in early warning systems. County governments should take this as priority number one. It is only through information from these systems that pastoralists can know the opportune time for selling their stocks.

Others include upgrading animal health services, increasing market access, development of policy frameworks to support the pastoralist economy; and increased tenure security, particularly around land.

Q. How does the PRISE project on ‘Enhancing Resilience for Livestock Value Chain’ fit in Kenya’s context?

Kenya is in the processes of implementing its Climate Change Action Plan—and the PRISE strategy of enhancing resilience of livestock value chains is consistent with this Plan. Similarly, the AU through the 2016 Livestock Development Strategy (LiDeSA) emphasized the critical role of value chains in enhancing resilience in the sector.

Q. What do you think should be done to ensure lessons are brought to the national agenda?

That will only happen through increased communication of research findings to diverse audiences using different media channels.

There is also need for political goodwill so that parliament in particular can highlight and debate the subject in relation to research findings —considering it is a major issue during drought. Already, a parliamentary group on pastoral areas exists and needs to be more proactive on engaging stakeholders to adopt innovations emerging from participatory research.

PAMACC News (NAIROBI, Kenya)

The world today committed to a pollution-free planet at the close of the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, with resolutions and pledges promising to improve the lives of billions across the globe by cleaning up our air, land and water.

If every promise made in and around the summit is met, 1.49 billion more people will breathe clean air, 480,000 km (or around 30 per cent) of the world’s coastlines will be clean, and USD 18.6 billion for research and development and innovative programmes to combat pollution will come online.

“The science we have seen at this assembly shows we have been so bad at looking after our planet that we have very little room to make more mistakes,” said Dr. Edgar Gutiérrez, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and the President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly.

“With the promises made here, we are sending a powerful message that we will listen to the science, change the way we consume and produce, and tackle pollution in all its forms across the globe.”

Over 4,000 heads of state, ministers, business leaders, UN officials, civil society representatives, activists and celebrities gathered at the summit in Nairobi, which ran for three days.

For the first time at a UN Environment Assembly, environment ministers issued a declaration. This declaration said nations would honour efforts to prevent, mitigate and manage the pollution of air, land and soil, freshwater, and oceans – which harms our health, societies, ecosystems, economies, and security.

The declaration committed to increasing research and development, targeting pollution through tailored actions, moving societies towards sustainable lifestyles based on a circular economy, promoting fiscal incentives to move markets and promote positive change, strengthening and enforcing laws on pollution, and much more.

The assembly also passed 13 non-binding resolutions and three decisions. Among them were moves to address marine litter and microplastics, prevent and reduce air pollution, cut out lead poisoning from paint and batteries, protect water-based ecosystems from pollution, deal with soil pollution, and manage pollution in areas hit by conflict and terrorism.

“Today we have put the fight against pollution high on the global political agenda,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “We have a long struggle ahead of us, but the summit showed there is a real appetite for significant positive change.

“It isn’t just about the UN and governments, though. The massive support we have seen from civil society, businesses and individuals – with millions of pledges to end pollution – show that this is a global challenge with a global desire to win this battle together.”
A large part of the impact from the assembly comes from global support. UN Environment’s #BeatPollution campaign hit almost 2.5 million pledges during the event, with 88,000 personal commitments to act.

Chile, Oman, South Africa and Sri Lanka all joined the #CleanSeas campaign during the Nairobi summit, with Sri Lanka promising to implement a ban on single-use plastic products from 1 January 2018, step up the separation and recycling of waste, and set the goal of freeing its ocean and coasts of pollution by 2030. There are now 39 countries in the campaign.

Colombia, Singapore, Bulgaria, Hungary and Mongolia joined 100 cities who were already in the #BreatheLife campaign, which aims to tackle air pollution. Every signatory has committed to reduce air pollution to safe levels by 2030, with Singapore promising to tighten fuel and emissions standards for vehicles, and emissions standards for industry.

The global momentum comes not a moment too soon, as the UN Environment report, The Executive Director’s Report: Towards a Pollution-Free Planet, lays out.

Overall, environmental degradation causes nearly one in four of all deaths worldwide, or 12.6 million people a year, and the widespread destruction of key ecosystems. Air pollution is the single biggest environmental killer, claiming 6.5 million lives each year.

Exposure to lead in paint causes brain damage to 600,000 children annually. Our seas already contain 500 “dead zones” with too little oxygen to support marine life. Over 80 per cent of the world’s wastewater is released into the environment without treatment, poisoning the fields where we grow our food and the lakes and rivers that provide drinking water to 300 million people.

There is also a huge economic cost. A recent report by the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health says that welfare losses due to pollution are estimated at over USD 4.6 trillion each year, equivalent to 6.2 per cent of global economic output.

“We had two missions at this assembly,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, UN Environment’s deputy head. “One [agreeing on action] is accomplished. The second we must start tomorrow.”

BONN, Germany (PAMACC News) 2018 will herald the launching of a new platform that will harmonise and coordinate multiple programmes and actors in Africa’s environment sector.
                                                                                                      
Estherine Fotabong, Programmes director of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) disclosed this today on the side-lines of the ongoing UN climate talks in Bonn also known as COP 23.
 
The new platform is a response to the call for the creation of an African Environment Partnership Platform (AEPP) to “coordinate, mobilize resources, foster knowledge and align support for the implementation of the Environment Action Plan” made at the 14th Session of African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN).
 
The African Union Commission and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, in close collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, RECs and other relevant partners have been mandated to develop modalities for the operationalization of this environment partnership platform.
Ms Fotabong says the platform will seek to deliver a paradigm shift in addressing environmental degradation in Africa, in both public and private sectors and to develop innovative models.
 
“The platform will engender the prerequisite political support, needed institutional structures and adequate human capacity at national and regional levels to ensure integrated environmental management” she added.
 
Multiple environmental schemes
 
Concerns, however, have been raised by experts over the multiplicity of interventionist schemes and the attendant lack of coordination in the management of Africa’s environment.
 
Is this platform coming up because there is shortage of interventions in the field of environmental management in Africa? What about the lack of coordination and partnership between the various players at regional, sub-regional and national levels?
 
NEPAD believes the new platform is an accurate response to these concerns.
 
It is of the view that the cross-border nature of natural resources and transboundary effects of climate change, land degradation and other natural disasters make it imperative for the mainstreaming of national and regional planning process which this platform will spearhead.
 
The environment, Ms Fotabong says, though a cross cutting sector, will remain distinct and adequately harmonized with other sectors and priorities like agriculture, infrastructure and energy. Climate related risks will increasingly be mainstreamed into development and adaptation actions will be carried out in priority regions and sectors.
 
The Africa Environmental Partnership Platform is expected to draw lessons from the success and challenges of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) which provided a framework for developing African agriculture and rallying support for agricultural transformation.

BONN Germany (PAMACC News) Non-state actors following negotiations at the Bonn climate talks also known as COP 23 have deplored the resort to empty words on climate change by global leaders during the high-level segment of the two-week conference.
 
Fijian Prime Minister and COP 23 President Frank Bainimarama at the high-level segment called on the country representatives to remain focused to ensure a successful outcome to the conference. “Future generations are counting on us. Let us act now”, he said.
 
Sequel to Bainimarama’s speech, a young boy from Fiji recounted the story of how his home was destroyed in a recent natural disaster, asking government representatives in the room “What can you do?” to protect the climate. “Climate change is here to stay, unless you do something about it”, he told the delegates.
 
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that recent extreme weather events have shown that time was pressing. “I have no doubt that this urgency warns us to make haste and act decisively”, he said.
 
The “historic climate agreement” reached in Paris in 2015 and “the path we have taken since” must remain irreversible. “Paris can only be called a breakthrough if we follow up on the agreement with actions”, said Steinmeier.
 
Hopes for a strong statement on Germany’s climate goals and the future role of coal were dashed as Chancellor Angela Merkel disappointed only called on the world to walk the talk on climate at the global conference in Bonn.
 
“This conference must send out the serious signal that the Paris Agreement was a starting point, but the work has only begun.” Today’s pledges in the nationally-determined contributions were not enough to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, she said. “Now it’s about walking the talk.”
 
Speaking after the chancellor, French President Emmanuel Macron, said that the summit should send the message that “we can all come together” to mobilise the necessary public and private funds to act on climate.
 
To guarantee quality science needed to make climate policy decisions, Macron proposed that the EU should fill the financing gap for the IPCC left open by the US administration’s decision to reduce funding.
 
“France will meet that challenge, and I would like to see the largest number of European countries by our side,” said Macron. “All together, we can compensate for the loss of US funding.”
 
Reacting almost immediately after the high-level segment, civil society groups from across the world described their statements as empty words with no concrete plan of action.
 
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, (PACJA) accused the leaders of “playing hide and seek” with the lives of Africans who according to them are being cut short daily due to historic and ongoing actions of the developed world against the climate.
 
What we need, according to John Bideri, co-Chair of the Alliance, are “enhanced actions on the provision of $100 billion per year up to 2020 and a new finance goal which should reflect the scientific requirements and needs of African countries.”
 
“Advocacy-tainted speeches by leaders of polluter countries will not keep global temperatures from unprecedented levels, what is important now is a finance goal that will first and foremost help African countries to adapt, mitigate and cover loss and damage arising from climate change impacts,” Mithika Mwenda, PACJA’s Secretary General added
 
“This message from the host of a world climate conference must sound cruel to the poorest countries most strongly affected by climate change”, commented Oxfam Germany’s climate expert Jan Kowalzig.
 
Germany ran the risk of missing its climate goals, while in Berlin “three out of four parties to a potential Jamaica coalition’ block the measures needed to prevent such an embarrassing failure”.
 
Greenpeace Germany’s Managing Director Sweelin Heuss said that Merkel “avoided to give the only answer she had to give in Bonn: When will Germany fully exit coal?” Without a coal exit, Germany could not meet the pledge it made in Paris. “That's a disastrous signal coming out of this climate conference”, said Heuss.
 
Representatives from science, climate activists, and small island states appealed to Merkel to meet the country’s 2020 CO2 reduction target ahead of her much-anticipated speech.
 
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), said Germany had the ability to quit coal use but instead there was the “perverse” situation where it generated power from coal, which then was exported.
 
“Angela Merkel has been a great climate champion but her credibility is hanging in the balance,” Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, said.
 
President Hilda Heine, of the Marshall Islands, added: “We are just two metres above sea level. For Germany to phase-out coal and follow a 1.5°C pathway would be a signal of hope to us and all other nations in danger from climate change.”

As the COP winds to a close Friday, speculations are rife that the conference will end without substantially addressing relevant concerns on temperature limits, finance and other means of implementation for the Paris Agreement.