Kenya Platform on Climate Governance expands with the Kilifi County launch

Kilifi County just like the like the rest of Kenya’s coastal zone counties is bearing the brunt of human-induced climate change impacts and associated environmental and economic losses.

Climate change in Kilifi manifests itself in rapid-onset events, such as frequent flooding; and slow-onset ones, such as rising temperatures, recurrent droughts, sea level rise, land and forest degradation, loss of biodiversity and desertification. These events have led to severe crop and livestock losses, and high prevalence of pests and diseases.

Nevertheless, the organization of the non-state actors at the grass roots levels where climate crisis has hit the most in the country to spearhead the revolution and resilience in the country still remains a pipeline dream unlike at the national levels.

Therefore, sectors with closer links to climate such as water, agriculture, forestry, health and tourism are most affected.

This compels the efforts to address climate challenges that of loss and damage at the county level for community resilience. Hence, there is need to empower communities to take increased responsibility in making decisions affecting them. The county based CSOs still remain in limbo and therefore have   limited capacity to influence any significant change. As such, there is need for an enhanced and targeted movement building in the county thus to enhance the role of the CSOs in climate justice advocacy, resilience, innovative capacities and contributions to the climate crisis.

Moreover, Kilifi County is in the process of creating or adopting climate risk management policies that can address some of the major challenges faced it provides good opportunities for encouraging the adoption of climate adaptation practices, Kilifi is further complicated by the ongoing process of domesticating national policies and adapting them for the county level, as is happening nation-wide.

Inadequate funding and limited human capacity are the bane of climate risk management: these factors affect each phase of intervention, from planning to implementation, and thus should be considered core issues when addressing climate adaptation efforts. In terms of an enabling policy and institutional environment, there is a need to scale-down national policies to the County level, tailoring them to local needs and resources available, so as to address institutional and financial inadequacies that hinder effective climate change.

Additionally, with the approval of the County’s Climate change act of 2021, strategically places Kilifi communities and other stakeholders in the county to adequately and effectively respond to effects of climate change through appropriate adaptation and mitigation measures and actions.

It is against this background, that the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), through the Kenyan Designated Platform, Kenya Platform for Climate Governance (KPCG), are in Kilifi this week to officially launch the Kilifi platform for climate governance, with an aim of strengthening Climate Justice movements that anchor CSO efforts on climate Justice in Kilifi County  to gel climate change actors, community based organizations and  civil society organizations on climate change within the County.

 The launch of the platform target to achieve the following specific objectives;

• To officially unveil the Kilifi Platform for Climate governance with a focus on identifying areas of interest for the platform’s advocacy while advancing the locally led climate actions agenda.
• To popularize the national platform’s (KPCG) thematic areas, work model and theory of change in the region.
• To design a work plan/advocacy plan for the Kilifi platform on the identified areas of interest in line with the broader national platform’s thematic area
• To develop a roadmap on engagement with County Governments with the identified gaps for action on climate resilience in Kenya

Outcomes:

• A strengthened Kilifi platform for climate governance which strategically positions itself to maximize civil society space and advocates for more equitable raising and spending of financial resources, and share of the natural resources and their benefits at county and national level
• Women, youth and other vulnerable groups gain power over their lives to participate in, and contribute to public life

Proposed aactivity modality

Deliverables

• Summary of capacity gaps experienced by the CSOs in realizing desired results as per their core mandates in the areas Human Rights / Grievance Management, Climate Justice Advocacy, CSOs coordination, enhancing inclusion, influencing general debates on climate justice issues
• The CSO’s mapping across the county and thematic focus
• Action points for the next phase of engagement
• Land reclamation and restoration by planting mangrove trees