WOTE, Kenya, Nov 24 – The 7th Devolution Conference has kicked off in Makueni where participants will seek consensus on county-level mitigation measures to address climate change.
President Uhuru Kenyatta will officially open the 3-day conference which is Kenya’s inaugural sub-national climate summit later on Wednesday.
Themed ‘Multi-Level Governance for Climate Action: Sub-National Mobilization in Unlocking the Full Potential of Climate Action during and after Pandemics,’ the conference seeks to cascade the climate change interventions to the grassroots.
Day one of the conference will feature remarks by the Danish Ambassador in Kenya, Amb Ole Thonke, who chairs the Devolution Donor Working Group, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLGA) Secretary General Jean Pierre Elong – Mbassi and President of United Regions Organization Abdessamad Sekkal.
During the event, President Kenyatta is expected to launch a World Bank-funded climate action initiative dubbed Financing Locally–Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) implemented under the National Treasury.
Day one will also feature a panel discussion on climate change and pandemics at the sub-national level with the objective of seeking lasting solutions to human security challenges triggered by climate change.
Five sector breakout sessions will also be held on thematic areas of sustainable urbanization, food systems, sustainable natural resources management, the impact of climate change on health in counties, and prevention and management of climate change instigated conflicts.
Coming hard on the heels of the Glasgow Climate Summit where global leaders committed efforts to phase down the unabated use of coal and other forms of unclean energy, the devolution conference will seek to secure commitments for climate action at the sub-national level.
“We’re going to deal with issues that relate to sub-national governments; issues that relate to our mothers, to our fathers, to our brothers and sisters at the local level,” Kisii Governor James Ongwae, the conference’s steering committee co-chairperson, said on Monday.
Governor Kivutha Kibwana, the host, termed the Makueni Conference as a critical meeting which will shape interventions to avert a climate crisis in the coming years.
“We’re lucky as a county to host the first nationwide meeting dealing with sub-national climate change issues,” he said at a press conference flanked by Ongwae and Acting Council of Governors (CoG) CEO Mary Mwiti.
An outcome document to be released at the end of the 3-day conference is expected to set the momentum for county-based climate action programs key among them reforestation with the Council of Governors having mobilized the growing of 1,999,999 trees in Makueni, Machakos, Kitui, Embu and Kajiado.
A symbolic “devolution forest” will also be set up in the host county to mark the final annual devolution conference following a decision to hold future conference once every two years.
“This monument will serve as a symbol of national unity, strength and prosperity attained through devolution,” CoG, under whose auspices the conference is convened, said in an earlier statement.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, who will open the conference at Makueni Boys’ High School as the chief guest, will plant the 2 millionth tree to support the county-led reforestation efforts.
The national government has been working on an ambitious reforestation project launched in 2018 to increase the country’s forest cover, from an estimated 7 per cent at the time, to 15 per cent by the year 2022.
To double Kenya’s forest cover, the Ministry and Forestry said 47 million trees will be planted annually, a million in each of the 47 counties.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) projected that some 235 million seedlings will have been planted by the year 2022 to realize the 15 per cent forest cover ambition.
Top on the priority list was the reforestation of an estimated half a million acres of land in water catchment areas to rejuvenate diminishing water.
Kenya yields an annual per capita water supply of 650 cubic meters falling way below the globally recommended threshold of 1,000 cubic metres per capita, with nations below the mark categorized as water-scarce. Under the prevailing circumstances, the country operates on a 350 cubic meter per capita water deficit annually.
Kenya is also working towards a full transition to renewable energy by 2030 as part of its commitment to decelerate a further warming of the planet as a result of carbon emissions.
Renewable energy makes up 73 per cent of the installed power generation capacity in Kenya, while 90 per cent of the electricity in use is from clean sources.
Kenya boasts of the biggest wind power plant in sub-Sahara Africa – the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project – comprising 365 wind turbines; each with a capacity of 850kW, and a high voltage substation. The overall geothermal potential is estimated at 10,000 megawatts.
Another key contributor to Kenya’s clean energy portfolio is a Turkana-based solar plant generating 50 megawatts giving a boost to hydroelectric power sources producing an estimated 870 megawatts, geothermal (706 megawatts) and thermal (254 megawatts).
The fourth schedule of the Constitution (2010) assigns the national government control over protection of the environment including water resources and formulation of an energy policy. County government are tasked with the control of air pollution.
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