PACJA, Wangari Mathai Foundation Launch Campaign to monitor Climate Finance Spending

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) through the Kenya Platform for Climate Governance (KPCG) and the Wangari Maathai Foundation have launched a youth-led campaign known as the Follow the Money campaign  to raise public awareness about the climate funding towards climate action. The Campaign will enhance public engagement, information sharing, and increase accountability.

The Partners will also engage the media and youth activists at the county level besides maximizing the use of social media to engage and inform the citizens.

Charles Mwangi, head of programs and research at the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) said the ‘Follow the Money’ campaign will maintain a comprehensive real-time database to monitor the flow of funds to mitigate and adapt against the effects of climate change. “The aim of the campaign is to ensure that money from multilateral agencies and the private sector reaches the intended beneficiaries,” Mwangi said.

He revealed that the main multilateral institutions supporting climate change activities in Africa include the World Bank, Global Environmental Facility and the African Development Bank.

Mwangi noted that despite having contributed the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, Africa faces collateral losses that threaten to reverse its development gains.

Anne Tek, national coordinator of the Kenya Platform for Climate Governance (KPCG) said that the campaign will ensure that all relevant stakeholders including the youth constituency are well involved in the administration of climate finance in Africa.

Tek noted that tracking the flow of climate finance will uplift the unheard voices of local, indigenous and marginalized communities most affected by climate-induced losses and damages by ensuring that money flows to where it is most needed.

Wanjira Mathai, Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation said that climate finance should be utilized to help Africa to strengthen its local resilience against the impact of climate change. She added that Africa’s climate finance landscape is very fragmented resulting in the need to track the flow of the funds.

She observed that the vulnerability of Africa to climate change is driven by a range of factors that include high reliance on ecosystem resources for livelihoods, weak adaptive capacity and less developed agricultural production systems.

Eva Darare, secretary general of the Indigenous Resource Management Organization said that climate change is an increasingly serious threat in Africa as it is the most vulnerable continent to the phenomenon.

She revealed that the campaign will ensure that there is equity and overall effectiveness in the disbursement of climate funds in Africa. 

In a press release by the National treasury & planning dated 27 th October, 2021, The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a USD 150 million financing agreement for Kenya.

The money is meant to help Kenya strengthen local resilience to the impact of climate change in Kenya, through the Financing Locally – Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) programme.

The programme is a part of Kenya’s 10 – year Government Financing Locally led Climate Action (G – FLLoCA) programme, launched in June, 2020. The implementation of the 5-year FLLoCA programme, will be led by the National Treasury & Planning, with the involvement of the Council of Governors and the adoption of the innovative County Climate Change Fund as a financing instrument to support financing, public participation, and all climate change actions.

It is worth noting that the FLLOCA is a flagship program. Its success will inform how Locally Led Adaptation Funds flow across Africa. We must therefore ensure that it proceeds with the necessary oversight.

Kenya is one of the countries that is disproportionately impacted by climate change. We are currently grappling with impacts of climate change such as drought that is affecting over 2.5 million people and rising lakes. As such, adaptation is an important agenda to support grassroot communities who are already facing the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

A lot has been said about the need for Climate Finance that is responsive to local needs. The Conference of Parties (COP26), which recently in Glasgow, Scotland, saw climate finance as one of the major points of discussion. In 2009, developed nations promised to provide US $ 100 billion per year to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.

However, this target has not been met and hence the promise has not been fulfilled. However, there has been ongoing pressure from young people and the civil society demanding for immediate action and a fulfil of the broken promises.

As part of the Glasgow Climate Pact, there was an unprecedented goal for developed countries to double the funding provided to developing countries for adaptation by 2025, taking the annual figure to around US $ 40 billion. Right now, Kenya is among countries set to benefit from KShs 2 trillion that the UK Government has pledged for global climate action.

With more pressure and grassroot movements calling for climate justice, climate finance promises may be delivered.

However, we need to empower our own citizens locally to ensure that they are in a position to hold their leaders accountable on how that money is used once it gets here. To effectively tackle the climate and ecological crisis and help our people who are facing the worst impacts, we must ensure that climate finance reaches the grassroots communities and the people who need it most.

That is why activating this campaign here in Kenya is very key as we have previously lost finances that would have gone to impact communities through corruption.

Accountability and transparency are crucial to the success of locally-led adaptation and climate action. “With climate finance pledges coming in to support Kenya deal with the impacts of the climate crisis, it’s important to “follow the money” and ensure the funds are used transparently, as expected and to support the right grassroot communities,” said Ann Tek, Coordinator of the Kenya Platform on Climate Governance.

The youth movements across the world have been putting pressure on world leaders to do what must be done to keep 1.5 degrees of warming alive. Kenya had one of the most vocal group of young climate activists at COP26 and we need to maintain that momentum through local action.

We must therefore also ensure that when climate finance flows come into our countries, they flow to those for whom they are meant. There is a huge opportunity for us to empower and inform citizens on how crucial it is that the finances that are channeled into the national and county governments are used to support local communities and grassroot people who are already facing the worst impacts of the climate crisis.