CLIMATE NEWS NETWORK AFRICA

By Charles Ogallo Kenya has been taking Clean Development Mechanism -CDM projects seriously since Kyoto Protocol came into being despite indications that she was lagging behind in advancing to the category of nations with a satisfactory or good climate rating. Kenya ratified the Kyoto protocol in 2005, paving the way for the country to engage with developed countries in CDM projects. This comes as environmental experts list the country among the extremely vulnerable to Climate Change. Stockholm Environment institute study report of 2009 on Kenya indicates that existing climate variability has significant economic cost on the country and that further climate change may lead to additional and potentially very large economic costs. These include potential threats to coastal zones (sea-level rise), health burdens, energy demand, Infrastructure, water resources, agriculture and loss of ecosystem services. Kenya’s economy heavily relies on Climate Vulnerable sectors, such as agriculture and

By Charles Ogallo . An independent study has revealed that Kenya was in-adequately adapted to deal with existing climate risks as the country faces heavy Costs from effects of climate change. The immediate needs for building adaptive capacity and starting to enhance Climate Change resilience are estimated may cost Kenya between $100 – 150 million annually by next year -2012. Costs include potential threats to coastal zones (sea-level rise), health burdens, energy demand, Infrastructure, water resources, agriculture and loss of ecosystem services. According to the Stockholm Environment Institute report, a much higher value of $500 million/year or more is warranted if the categories of social protection and accelerated Development to address the current adaptation needs are included. The above categories are associated with current climate variability – such as the existing vulnerability to droughts and floods. However, investment in these areas provides greater resilience for future cha