Kenya Vision 2030: Integrating Climate Change Adaptation

Integrating climate change adaptation measures into Kenya's Vision 2030 national development projects

In cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) and the Vision 2030 Secretariat, The INTASAVE Partnership aims to mainstream and systematically integrate climate change adaptation measures in to national development projects, thereby promoting sustainable development in Kenya.

Specifically the project aims to:

• Foster a common acceptance and understanding of climate change and adaptation measures among key decision makers; building their capacity to identify specific interventions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the implementation of Vision  2030 development projects;


• Provide a platform for knowledge sharing on local and practical climate change adaptation initiatives within the Vision 2030 framework; and


•  Provide mentoring support to stakeholders who are integrating climate change into national development projects.

Duration: 5 Years, from January 2014 to December 2018 

Project Context & Background

Vision 2030 is Kenya’s blueprint development document. Under Vision 2030, Kenya aims to become a middle-income, rapidly industrializing country by 2030, offering all its citizens a high quality of life.  According to a 2013 progress report, climate change was cited as a major challenge in implementing development projects under Vision 2030.

Education and awareness efforts on climate change in Kenya only started two decades ago and were primarily directed towards the preparation of initial National Communications required for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the main donor being UNEP/GEF. The participants included top-level policy makers from line ministries. According to a UNEP report, this model of targeting key decision makers is seen as commendable and they encouraged similar measures for future projects, including the involvement of the media by inviting journalists to public awareness workshops and urging them to publish feature articles in national and regional newspapers.

In an effort to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation issues, the Vision 2030 secretariat engaged an environmental advisory team to operate both at multiple levels and to contribute to sectoral policies, plans and programmes.  Our project will build on existing structures that have been established by this advisory team and work through the various Climate Change Units (CCU) within government, research and development agencies, while ensuring a close link with the National Climate Change Action Plan implementing agencies.

For further information on this initiative, please contact Mr. James Mwangi, Senior Projects Officer, Kenya: james.mwangi@intasave-caribsave.org.

(Photo: Paradise in the World)

Integrating Adaptation into Low Carbon Development Plans

Building low carbon and climate resilient economies is a means by which nations can reduce poverty and achieve economic sustainability.

Feeding into WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative (GCEI), this study on integrating adaptation and climate resilience into low carbon development policies will serve as a resource for governments on how to develop climate change resilient national development plans. The study will synthesize the lessons learned from government-led initiatives in countries such as the Philippines, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Nepal and South Africa and will contribute analyses and options for integrating adaptation measures into low carbon frameworks.  It will also identify opportunities and best practices on how to build synergies between mitigation and adaptation initiatives within countries in order to ensure that low carbon frameworks are also climate resilient.

The final report will inform discussions at an international level:

• firstly, by serving as an input to negotiations on adaptation under the UNFCCC with the aim of informing discussions on how international frameworks could support the development of effective climate resilient low carbon national development plans; and


• secondly, by presenting opportunities for South-South and North-South partnerships to enable support for the development of these frameworks.

For further information on this initiative, contact Dr. Murray Simpson via e-mail on murray.simpson@caribsave.org.

 

UNWTO Political and Scientific Position Paper on Climate Change and Tourism

1.6 billion: That’s the number of international tourists expected to arrive at holiday destinations around the world in 2020.

It reflects not only a key source of income for countries but also the scale of an industry at the forefront of global climate change.

Tourism is inextricably tied to the environment, whether it’s snowboarding on the winter slopes of Hokkaido or scuba diving off the islands of Barbados, and if the earth’s temperature continues to rise as projected over the next few decades, the industry and the people it supports will feel the direct heat of those changes. The sector will also have a big role to play in keeping that general warming trend to a minimum.

In 2009, CARIBSAVE detailed those impacts and responsibilities in a report delivered at the 15^th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

It spelled out the negative and positive impacts of global warming on the travel industry and how those effects will vary substantially by region and sector.

Tourism is one of the best-known ways of redistributing wealth from rich nations to poor ones and from urban areas to rural zones. It is an economic cornerstone for many less-developed countries and so any impacts from climate change is certain to deal a bigger blow to these communities.

These threats are becoming clearer by the day and so too does the need to respond. The industry will need to work out how it will cope with changes in the length and quality of climate-dependent tourism seasons as well as changes in factors such as water availability, biodiversity loss, landscape degradation and coastal erosion.

The sector will also have to confront the challenges posed by national or international policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as higher transport costs. These difficulties may be compounded by potential political unrest stemming from the economic toll of climate change.

It’s critical then that any agreement on climate change considers the disproportionate and wide-ranging effects that it will have on tourism-dependent economies.

Tourism also has a role to play in reducing emissions. The industry contributes about 5 per cent of global carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere and must work to cut this toll. But any progress will rely on partnership. The complexity and scale of the issues demands collaboration between government, business and community.