Once again, it’s all talk and no action at climate change meet

Climate Justice Action activists protest outside the UN Climate Change Conference venue in Durban on November 29, 2011. PHOTO / AFP

What you need to know:

  • Kenya had, hoped the 194 country meeting would reach a binding agreement on the reduction of carbon emissions

Kenya may be disappointed yet again by lack of progress at the ongoing global climate meeting in Durban, South Africa.

As the meeting enters its fifth day on Friday, it is emerging that like happened in similar sittings last year in Cancun, Mexico and the previous year in Copenhagen, Denmark little progress will be made to meet two of the most relevant goals to Kenya.

Kenya, according to Environment minister Mr John Michuki, hoped the meeting which comprises 194 countries would reach a binding agreement on the reduction of carbon emissions.

Green Climate Fund

Secondly Kenya and hoped members would operationalise what is called a Green Climate Fund meant to act as a vehicle for transferring money from the developed to poor countries to tackle the impacts of global warming.

Briefing delegates from the European Union last week, Mr Michuki said Kenya would seek to extend the proposals in the Kyoto Protocol, but added that they will demand rich countries obey it this time around.

Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and expires next year.

The Durban meeting is a rush to renegotiate the protocol because, as Mr Michuki explained, there is no other legally binding agreement which could be relied upon to benchmark climate change.

But by the fourth day of the South African discussions, some Kyoto signatories like Canada indicated its willingness to walk away from the protocol. The US, the world’s biggest polluter is not a party to the protocol.

Canada, according to sources at the meeting, is calling for a new international agreement, eventually binding, which would include all the major developed and developing emitters. Japan and Russia have also indicated they would not renew their Kyoto vows.

Kenya and other poor countries went to Durban hoping that modalities on funding and releasing monies from the proposed Green Climate Fund would be finalised but that may not be so.

By Wednesday evening, reports filtering through from Durban, indicated that some countries from Latin American, the US and Saudi Arabia had reservations about the Green Climate Fund.

Developed nations have pledged $100bn (Sh10 trillion) a year to the fund by 2020, but some now facing economic crisis at home are having second thoughts over putting money into the kitty.

The US and several other countries want the mechanics of the fund to be strengthened further, a function which could delay the process to the next such meeting which will be held in Qatar next year.

Possibly sensing that the Durban meeting could be a letdown, Mr Michuki said Kenya would support discussions hinged on the survival of humanity by finding solutions to reduce dangerous gases in the atmosphere.

The conference takes place on a continent most affected by global warming: erratic rainfall, long droughts and floods. This year alone, more than 13 million people in the Horn of Africa nearly starved.

These changes are likely to continue, warn environmentalists. The World Wildlife Foundation website states that “Changes in precipitation patterns are expected to continue and be accompanied by a rise in sea level and increased frequency of extreme weather events.”

In 2009, Mr Michuki, on learning that the Copenhagen talks would produce nothing, told reporters that it was time for Africa to start its own initiatives.

“We must focus on the need for mitigation which I fear appears to be avoided by our ‘big brothers’. We don’t want people to convince us to buy their machines then later end up spending all our meagre resources reclaiming our environment.”

Much of Kenya’s problem in dealing with harsh climate, argues University of Nairobi’s Prof Richard Odingo, is the lack of preparation. He says it would be imperative to change our lifestyle so as to adapt to the changes.

The Meteorological Department admits that the changes in weather have made it difficult to correctly determine when rain would actually come or go.

“We have already been affected by floods and droughts resulting in destruction of infrastructure. The country’s meagre resources are then diverted to address impacts of climate change at the expense finances required to develop meteorological ability,” said  Dr Samwel Marigi, an environment scientist.

Kenya, like much of sub-Saharan Africa, depends on rain-fed food production. However, even under normal circumstances when rain seasons are on, the country cannot meet its cereal requirements, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Prof Josephine Ngaira, a climatologist from Maseno University, says that it would now be an obligation for Kenya to develop its own means of dealing with the changes before inviting help. “Kenya, out of necessity may lead the way in learning to live with a warming planet.”

Restore forests

She identifies things like tree planting to restore forests, encouraging communities to change their mode of earning a living away from charcoal burning, collecting and use of rain water and breeding of proper crop seeds as cheaper ways of dealing with it.

The Ministry of Environment agrees with this view, but insists that poorer countries like Kenya have to be helped.

“The ministry has set a target of increasing the forest cover from the current two per cent to 10 per cent. This will have positive impact on the local and the regional climate,” says Environment PS Ali Mohamed.

That will mean that we plant about 7.6 billion trees in the next 20 years. This needs money though.

In September, Kenya was among the regional countries that converged in Nairobi to deal with the food crisis. But then, in their Nairobi Plan of Action, they called upon the international community to facilitate developing countries to adapt to climate change.

Kenya requested Sh18 billion which it said would be used to expand irrigation programmes. The same plea has been made to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Meanwhile the loss to climate change continues to grow. According to the Stockholm Environmental Institute the actual cost of the change in climate in Kenya, is already putting us back by Sh290 billion per year.