Kenya needs Sh1.8 trillion (USD 18 Billion) to implement climate change programmes for the remaining period up to 2030, according to the Environment Ministry.
In the short term, the country requires Sh495 billion for the same activities for the next five years.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Prof Judi Wakhungu revealed this when she launched the Kenya Second National Communication Report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi.
Noting that climate change is the most serious environmental challenge facing the world today, the CS said the Government has taken measures to secure the country's development against the risks and impacts of climate change.
"Kenya is highly vulnerable to climate change ad Government is mobilising and leveraging resources to strengthen resilience and abet green house gas emissions. Government has enacted Climate Change Act, 2016 which provides a regulatory framework for enhanced response to achieve low carbon climate resilient development," Ms Wakhungu said.
She added that other policy measures to achieve a green economy are the National Climate Change Action Plan 2013-2017, Climate Change Response Strategy 2010 and Environmental Management and Coordination Act CAP 387.
The CS observed that Government has identified nine areas where urgent mitigation actions should be undertaken using the billions of shillings required.
Among the nine are restoration of forests and degraded lands, developing an additional 2,275 megawatts of geothermal energy, restoration of degraded forests, encouraging Kenyans to use improved cookstoves and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and agroforestry.
Others include bus rapid transit and light rail corridors, develop greenhouse gas inventory and improvement of emissions data, measuring, reporting on and monitoring forestry emissions and sinks and mainstreaming of low-carbon development options into planning processes.
To achieve the above, Government needs to undertake a programme of work to restore forests on 960,000 hectares up to 2030 including dryland forest restoration activities, developing, testing and application of compensation and benefits-sharing mechanisms and develop an additional 2,275 MW of geothermal capacity by 2030 through a support programme aimed at encouraging private sector investment.
The country also needs to undertake a programme of work to replant forests on 240,000 hectares of land that were previously forests, increase awareness of improved cooking practices, undertaking pilot initiatives which promote the use of LPG, increasing awareness of stove quality, increasing access to soft loans, building capacity of stove producers, and improving access to testing facilities.
The report also recommends converting 281,000 hectares of existing arable cropland and grazing land that have medium or high agricultural potential to agroforestry and implement an extensive mass transit system for greater Nairobi, based predominantly on bus rapid transit corridors complemented by a few Light Rail Transit corridors as other mitigation measures.
Others include developing a national forest inventory, forest reference scenario, and a monitoring and reporting system that allows for transparent accounting of emissions and removals in the forestry and land-use sectors.
"Kenya's population projected to reach 17.64 million in 2017, resides in the rural areas and relies predominantly on an ever-degrading environment and scarce natural resources for their livelihoods. However this situation is changing with an increase in rural-urban migration, projected to reach 80.3 persons per km2 by 2017," the CS said.
She said the increase has led to a substantially increased pressure on land for settlement and support for livelihoods. "Despite Government efforts to reverse the poverty situation, in 2012, 49.8 per cent of the total population was living below the poverty line (below 1 USD a day), with the level being higher in rural areas at 55 per cent than in urban areas estimated at 35.5 per cent," Ms Wakhungu said.
The report noted that for the period from 1960, Kenya's temperature trends indicate that hot days per year have increased by 15.6 per cent and cold nights decreased by 4.4 per cent.
"Hot days increase highest in March to May while the rate of cold days is highest in September to November. The rate of decrease of cold nights is highest from December to February," the report notes.
Prof Geoffrey Wahungu, NEMA's Director General said the report will guide the country on how to monitor and implement the recently enacted climate laws and the Paris Agreement on climate change. NEMA together with the Environment ministry were involved in the compiling of the report.
Geordie Colville, senior programme officer at UNEP said UNEP will continue supporting Kenya's efforts towards making the world habitable.
The report noted that in 2000, Kenya's total greenhouse gas emissions were approximately 55 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Methane gas is named as the second pollutant in the country.
Areas assessed include energy, transport, industrial processes, agriculture, land use, forestry and water sector.
Kenya ratified UNFCCC in 1994. As a party to the Convention, it is obliged to submit national communications to the UNFCCC. Kenya submitted its first report in 2002.
The report assesses the country's situation with regard to national circumstances, greenhouse gas inventory and response to climate change.
The Cameroon government is intensifying efforts against illegal forest exploitation in the country with multiplication of heavy sanctions against defaulters.
The National Control Brigade for Control Operations of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has published its register of litigations for the first quarter of 2016.
The report reveals that four logging companies (SITAF, SCDC, South & FILS, SOFIE), had their licenses temporarily suspended, 35 others warned, with over 54.2 million FCFA generated as fines from illegal forestry activities.
The companies are accused of fraudulent forest exploitation and the non-respect of provisions. Some 10 companies also had their exploitation licenses suspended. They were Horizon Bois, Martial & Cie, Atlas Commercial, FC PATRUD, FC NKADA KPABO de DONGOGO, FC WOUSS, FC HE KEN MBOUMBOU, FC forêt communautaire and FC GIC Ne KIDONG.
The figures were presented to the press in Yaounde on August 4, 2016. The register is published at the end of each quarter and signed by Wildlife and Forestry Minister. It presents illegal forest exploitation offences with sanctions meted on erring companies. Two registers have been published this year. It emerged that after consulting with national controllers who records of offence statements and data collected from external services, as well as the opinion of the legal unit of the Ministry.
The sanctions were part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement that binds Cameroon and the European Union, with focus on addressing illegal logging to improve forest governance and promoting trade in legal timber products to EU markets.
The Head of the National Control Brigade for Control Operations, Ella Ondoua Ambroise Rodrigue, said the suspensions would be lifted if the logging companies paid fines levied on them.
It is not the first time that the sledge hammer of the ministry of forestry and wildlife is falling on defaulters in the forestry sector
The Cameroon government is intensifying efforts against illegal forest exploitation in the country with multiplication of heavy sanctions against defaulters.
The National Control Brigade for Control Operations of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has published its register of litigations for the first quarter of 2016.
The report reveals that four logging companies (SITAF, SCDC, South & FILS, SOFIE), had their licenses temporarily suspended, 35 others warned, with over 54.2 million FCFA generated as fines from illegal forestry activities.
The companies are accused of fraudulent forest exploitation and the non-respect of provisions. Some 10 companies also had their exploitation licenses suspended. They were Horizon Bois, Martial & Cie, Atlas Commercial, FC PATRUD, FC NKADA KPABO de DONGOGO, FC WOUSS, FC HE KEN MBOUMBOU, FC forêt communautaire and FC GIC Ne KIDONG.
The figures were presented to the press in Yaounde on August 4, 2016. The register is published at the end of each quarter and signed by Wildlife and Forestry Minister. It presents illegal forest exploitation offences with sanctions meted on erring companies. Two registers have been published this year. It emerged that after consulting with national controllers who records of offence statements and data collected from external services, as well as the opinion of the legal unit of the Ministry.
The sanctions were part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement that binds Cameroon and the European Union, with focus on addressing illegal logging to improve forest governance and promoting trade in legal timber products to EU markets.
The Head of the National Control Brigade for Control Operations, Ella Ondoua Ambroise Rodrigue, said the suspensions would be lifted if the logging companies paid fines levied on them.
It is not the first time that the sledge hammer of the ministry of forestry and wildlife is falling on defaulters in the forestry sector
The opening of the Olympic Games in Rio this year witnessed a dramatic twist that brought fresh impetus to its drive to chase impossible dreams and stretching the limits of human ambition.
Beneath the glitz and glamour that characterize the Rio Carnival-like atmosphere, this year ceremony showcased the most impossible sounding dream of all – Africa’s Great Green Wall.
A Press Release of August 5th,2016, from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification , UNCCD says in a Film on Africa’s Great Green Wall featured prominently as one of the highlights of the opening with Fernando Meirelles’ documentary on global reforestation efforts.
The film in the Great Green Wall struck a chord as a generation-defining initiative aiming to grow an 8000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa, against all odds.
“The film show efforts to restore vast swathes of degraded land in a region called the Sahel and in the process provide food, jobs and a reason to stay for the millions of people living on the frontline of climate change that may be forced to migrate,” the report stated.
Once complete, the Wall will be three times the length of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. More importantly, it is expected to promote peace and strengthen resilience in a region long devastated by drought, war and famine.
The Sahel region of Africa is one of the world’s most impoverished – a key reason being the degradation of enormous tracts of fertile land, which form the basis of people’s livelihoods here. Persistent drought, food insecurity, and conflicts over dwindling natural resources are some of the many consequences. Continued inaction means an estimated 60 million people could migrate to Europe from Africa’s degraded areas by 2030.
According to statistics from UNCCD, about 40 % of Africa is threatened by desertification with increasing loss of aerable land. The Sahel, a semi-arid transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the savannah, is the focus of efforts to build a "Great Green Wall" to hold back the desert and provide jobs and sustainable development for struggling African nations.
Meirelles’ film, which features footage from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Virtual Reality experience unveiled at last year’s Paris Climate Summit, provides a stark warning of the need to restore natural resources, like land.
The progress made since the initiative started a decade ago shows that land restoration efforts on a mass scale are both possible and offer hope. Senegal has already planted 12 million trees, Ethiopia has restored 15 million hectares of degraded land and Nigeria has created 20,000 jobs in rural areas.
“The Great Green Wall is about far more than just growing trees. It is a mosaic of interventions weaving across the Sahel region that is helping to build community resilience and provide economic opportunity. Already, it is feeding hungry families and malnourished children, putting people back to work and growing peace and security to help communities thrive once more. Most crucially, it provides young people with a genuine alternative to migrating from their communities,” says Monique Barbut, head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
During last year’s Paris Climate Change Conference, world leaders pledged a further USD 4 billion to the initiative over the next 5 years. For a poor region with hardly any resources to spare, this raises hopes of moving the initiative closer to its ambition of restoring 50 million hectares of currently degraded land, and sequestering 250 million tonnes of carbon by 2030.
The Great Green Wall is an extraordinary collaborative effort that transcends geographical, political and cultural divides, and is uniting people across borders on an unprecedented scale. “This is a bold ambition that chimes with the spirit of solidarity enshrined in the Olympic dream. It is a global symbol to celebrate our common humanity in divisive and troubling times,” Barbut adds.
About the Great Green Wall
The Great Green Wall is an African-led Initiative with an epic ambition: to restore the productivity of degraded lands across the Sahara and the Sahel and transform millions of lives. Under the leadership of the African Union Commission, it brings together African countries and international partners that include the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and World Bank Group.
