NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 13 – Kenya will join the rest of the world to pay tribute to the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards.
World Standards Day is celebrated internationally each year on 14 October, to mark the date, in 1946, when delegates from 25 countries first gathered in London and decided to create an international organization focused on facilitating standardization.
This year’s celebrations are organised under the theme, ‘Protecting the planet with standards’.
Speaking ahead of the celebrations KEBS Managing Director Lt. Col Bernard Njiraini said that standards are tools that enhance urgent global actions being undertaken to promote environmental conservation and reduce the impact of rapid human consumption and production to the environment.
“This year’s theme recognizes the power of standards to protect the planet. At KEBS, we have standards that address environmental issues such as air, water, soil quality, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and much more. We can rely on standards to provide a data-driven approach to protect the environment as well promote sustainable development,” says Lt. Col (Rtd) Njiraini
“Plans to adopt over 342 standards that address climate change, environmental management and sustainable forestry from the International Standards Organization (ISO) are underway. We are consulting and engaging with various local, regional and international stakeholders to develop and implement mainstream frameworks and policies, which support heightened action against climate change,” he added.
The chief guest of the event will be Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development Hon. Betty Maina accompanied by other high profile government and international officials such as ISO President Mr, Eddy Njoroge, and Principal Secretary State Department for Industrialization Dr. Francis Owino who has been vocal in advocating for an intergovernmental and international approach to environment conservation.
Other key representatives present will be from United Nation Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and government agencies such Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS), Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) and Africa Organization for Standardization (ARSO).
