WB credits Kenya Sh16b in fight against climate change
National Treasury yesterday tapped Sh16 billion from the World Bank for strengthening Kenya’s resilience to climate change knocks.
The 10-year deal is meant to enhance community-led climate resilience actions while developing the capabilities of national and county institutions to plan, budget, report, finance and implement green initiatives countrywide.
“Climate change remains the biggest challenge of our age with Kenya’s climate sensitive economy being prone to droughts and floods with an economic liability of up to 2.8 per cent of GDP annually,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said.
The funding will primarily target will be to enhance policy and legal framework, capacity building, climate finance, community led actions, technology and innovation, measurement and evaluation among others.
“Climate change, poverty, and inequality are the defining issues of our age,” says the World Bank which is the biggest multilateral funder of climate investments in developing countries
Treasury wants to build resilience in sectors such as agriculture, water, energy tourism and wildlife which are not only affected by climate change but also by the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As a nation, we remain cognizant of the challenges that lie ahead but remain confident that with the support of the World Bank and other development partners coupled by Kenyan innovation and resilience,” he said.
Treasury said the government will bank on home-grown solutions to create both an enabling environment and an innovative decentralized approach to tackling climate change impacts.
Dangers of climate change
Speaking virtually during the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Day on Tuesday this week President Uhuru Kenyatta called for urgent climate change adaptation actions.
He said warned that climate change will have a devastating socio-economic impact across Africa.
“If we do not take any action Africa could, as a consequence, see its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contract by up to 30 per cent by 2050 due to climate change,” Kenyatta said.
The WB deal comes even as Principal secretary (PS) Environment and Forestry Chris Kiptoo had hinted in August that the country would require only $62 million (Sh6.8 billion) to fund its climate mitigation and adaptation measures in the next 10 years.
He had said $18 billion (Sh1.97 million) will be used for climate change mitigation, while $44 million (Sh4.8 billion) will fund adaptation measures.
“We require $18 million to deal with mitigation. I needed to add also that to deal with climate change adaptation, we will require $44 million over the next 10 years.
So in total, to deal with mitigation and adaptation of climate change, we shall require about $62 million,” Kiptoo had said.
Environment PS
Some of the intervention measures include preparations for intense fires, the challenge of sea level rise, protection of farms and food supply from climate impacts, protect air quality, prioritise climate justice and prepare for managed retreat.
The PS said out of the money, “13 per cent will be from domestic resources and the balance of 87 per cent we shall rely on international climate finance.”
Kenya ratified the Paris Agreement in December 2016 to address climate change and its negative impacts and is committed to balancing greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere (Net Zero) emissions status by 2050.
