WOTE, Kenya, Nov 25 – Chief Justice Martha Koome has challenged sub-national governments to ensure active participation of vulnerable groups in the development of climate adaptation policies.
CJ Koome, who spoke on Thursday at the 7th Devolution Conference, Kenya’s inaugural sub-national climate summit, in Makueni, noted that participation of groups most affected by climate change will ensure equitable interventions
“The entire policy development, implementation and evaluation process related climate action should involve active participation of stakeholders, with an emphasis on the fair participation of vulnerable and marginalized groups,” she said
“…the citizens including vulnerable groups must be involved as it is only through their input that we can ensure that the adaptation and mitigation policies and measures are equitable.”
The Chief Justice underscored the need for urgent interventions to secure commitments geared at ensuring food security, access to water and improved health outcomes given the negative impact of climate change on the three.
“The most vulnerable need to be included in our decision-making efforts and should be well-informed participants in the processes geared towards framing our responses to climate change in line with the participatory ethos of our Constitution,” she said.
CJ Koome challenged county governments to take necessary steps to ensure climate justice which she noted is key to the realization of national values and principles, including human dignity and social justice, outlined in Article 10 of the Constitution.
She proposed a four-phased approach entailing preventative measures, inter-generational sustainability, rights protections and fair participation to steer climate action at the sub-national level.
“These four elements are enforceable as justiciable claims, and our courts are already developing jurisprudence to give effect to them thus the county and national government should be on notice that they must take their climate action obligation seriously,” the CJ stated.
She cautioned that failure to address emerging climate challenges could lead to reduced opportunities for future generations who risk inheriting depleted natural resources due to environmental degradation.
“As made clear in Article 42 of our Constitution, taking sufficient action to prevent dangerous climate change is essential to fulfilling the mandate of intergenerational justice,” the Chief Justice stated.
Koome also challenged county governments to work collaboratively to ensure an equitable response to climate change in a bid to scale the impact of climate change.
Under her leadership, Koome said the judiciary is ready to discharge its obligation to deter the escalation of climate change citing the Save Lamu Case before the National Environment Tribunal on building a coal fired power plant in Lamu as an example.
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