PACJA calls for restoration and protection of Kenyan ecosystems on World Environment Day

Tana River, 5 June 2021:  The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, in partnership with the Open Society Initiative in East Africa (OSIEA), has held several activities in Tana River County to mark World Environment Day. Under the theme “ecosystem restoration” and a call to reconcile mankind with nature, the activities were designed to increase communities’ understanding of the convergences that exist between healthy ecosystems, climate change, and land-use planning.

Advancing the Alliance’s locally-led approaches to climate action, the activities were run on the ground as part of the Building Community Climate Resilience Through Proper Land Use Planning Practices project by the Kenya Platform for Climate Governance (KPCG).

According to the Governor of Tana River County, His Excellency Major (Rtd) Dr. Dhadho Gaddae Godhana, Tana River County is the law school for all environmental issues.

Speaking while hosting the PACJA team led by Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the governor expressed concern about the increasing climate impacts such as reduced soil potentials and agricultural productivity, loss of indigenous and endemic biodiversity, forest and land degradation as a result of continued land-use changes, climate-induced migration, and conflict as a result of resource competition, water over-abstraction, coming up of several invasive species like Prosopis Juliflora popularly known as Mathenge plant which has impacted on land productivity, human and livestock diseases and human-wildlife conflict, rising sea levels, flooding, and soil erosion, recurrent droughts among others as faced in the county.

As such, the governor highlighted several projects including relocation programmes and the green villages project by the Green Village Empowerment Foundation aimed at enhancing adaptive capacity in the County. “Alongside the fact that we are predominantly rural, we sit on a winding path and that’s why the impacts of climate change like flooding and sea intrusion have been server within our communities,” the governor recounted. “However, my aim is to transform Tana River into a green eco and smart city.” He continued as he focused on the future he’d have wanted to leave for Tana River County.

While introducing PACJA to the county, Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance expressed his joy on witnessing some of the gains the county had achieved including setting up the requisite policy, legal and infrastructure to curb the growing impacts of climate change. He further stressed the importance of bottom-up climate action and building synergy including with both non-state and state actors to address increasing threats of climate change. “With Kyoto Protocol gone and Paris Agreement in practice, locally-led climate action is the in thing. We have tried and tested the benefits of Tujiinue Tena – a locally-led climate action project by the Alliance in Meru – and for sure Tana River would be a great county to explore with a similar initiative,” Dr. Mwenda explained.

Accompanying Dr. Mwenda in the meeting with the governor was Mrs. Salina Sanou, who is also the head of programmes at the PACJA who highlighted areas including partnership in the Nairobi Summer School programme, partnership to address climate-induced migration and conflict and scaling out of Tujiinue Tena project as some of the quick wins for collaboration between the county government of Tana River and the Alliance.  

Held annually on June 5, World Environment Day was established to raise awareness across communities, cities, countries, and continents on environmental issues. In addition, it is a day used to mobilize communities to join hands and recognize that everyone on earth has a stake in ensuring sustainability.

PACJA has been at the forefront in advocating policies that are responsive to the protection of fragile ecosystems.

For the second year in a row, World Environment Day is being held amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to exacerbate other challenges including, but not limited to, climate-induced droughts, floods, landslides, locust invasion and water scarcity, deepening poverty, inequality, among others.