- He said national and county governments must craft policies and implement strategies that are most effective on the ground.
- “We are duty-bound to take deliberate interventions and find a place for climate action in our respective devolved units ,” Lusaka said.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
It is time national and county governments partnered to implement a countrywide climate action plan, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka says.
He said the Paris Agreement recognises that local and regional governments have an important role to play in global climate action.
Lusaka spoke during the 7th Annual Devolution Conference in Makueni on Wednesday.
“We are duty-bound to take deliberate interventions and find a place for climate action in our respective devolved units if we have to be sure of handing over our country down to the next generations,” he said.
The Speaker's remarks come as the dust settles on the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, held between 31 October and November 12.
At the end of the meeting, doctors and nurses who traveled to Glasgow warned that global warming had become a leading threat to public health.
In his speech, Lusaka said county governments and other players need to audit their action plans for the past eight years a the view to finding out whether they contributed to environment and climate change.
“If as a nation and region we will not work together to rescue our environment through clear and smart climate actions, then we must be ready to carry the curse that will befall our generations,” he added.
The Speaker said national and county governments must craft policies and implement strategies that are most effective on the ground.
“We must as a country move swiftly from rule making to implementation, and work to strengthen our climate pledges as requested by the COP 26 texts.
"As a Senate, we undertake to lead the necessary consultations to ensure uniformity of focus on any legislative amendment needed to combat climate change,” he said.
Lusaka warned that as Kenya gears for the final lap towards actualising Vision 2030, there may be no industrial, social, political and economic gains to celebrate if there will be no concrete corresponding climate action plans.
“We must not only think about the next steps but also about the next generation. It is my sincere belief that the conversations we have here will enable us agree on the attainment of optimal levels for dealing with climate change.
"We need to arrive at the critical decision of whether we will fit the scale of the problem with the weight of the problem, or whether we will have a proactive approach in anticipation,” he said.
Lusaka said in the past, world economies competed for space in the industrial age without due regard to the impact of their actions on the global climate.
“Today the same countries have to return more of their gains to attempt to rectify their initial omissions. Let us not allow our country and region to get to that undesirable situation since as an African economy, we are already overburdened by the sins of others as far as climate change is concerned,” he added.
He said recent researches have shown that climate change is already impacting marine species diversity distribution along the equator where Kenya lies.
This is greatly attributed to rising temperatures and warming of water bodies.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)