Kenya: Odinga Roots for Creation of a National Climate Council

Nairobi — Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has proposed the creation of a National Climate Council (NCC) to lead climate action at the national level.

Odinga noted that the council will be pivotal in helping address climate-related challenges in the country.

“Climate change is bigger than the election which is coming up in 2022 or the ones that will follow in 2027 and 2032. It is a life and death matter that has cornered everyone all over the planet,” he said on Wednesday in Makueni during the seventh annual Devolution Conference.

He emphasized that with proper climate-related policies and structures, Kenya’s economy is bound to improve.

“Extreme weather levels have led to the loss of lives, diminished livelihoods, reduced crop and livestock production and damaged infrastructure among other advance impacts. The key enablers of our economy that is Agriculture, Water, Energy, Tourism and Wildlife are extremely climate-sensitive,” he said.

The African Union Envoy for Infrastructure lauded the 32 counties which have since enacted climate change policy and legal framework as part of the mitigation measures aimed at addressing climate-related challenges in the country.

“I particularly laud the ASAL Counties of Garissa, Isiolo, Kitui, Makueni and Wajir of which have gone ahead and established county climate change funds and that is the leadership we are looking for at the grassroots,” he said.

Under the World Bank-funded Financing Locally-Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) program, the counties established climate change funds, dedicated a county executive committee member in charge of climate change and established climate finance and change units and dedicated an average of 2 percent of their development budget.

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.