- •Tuya is in Ethiopia where she is leading Kenya’s delegation for the nineteenth ordinary session of African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.
- •The CS said the confirmation of the heads of states set to attend is still streaming in.
Image: HANDOUT
Fifteen heads of states from Africa have so far confirmed that they will be attending the Africa Climate Summit set to be held in Nairobi in September.
Environment CS Soipan Tuya on Wednesday said plans to host the leaders have been finalised.
“We are waiting for the world in Nairobi. Over 13,000 delegates from 136 countries,” Tuya said.
UN Secretary General António Guterres is expected to attend.
The CS was accompanied by AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Josefa Sacko during the international online press conference from Ethiopia.
Tuya is in Ethiopia where she is leading Kenya’s delegation for the nineteenth ordinary session of African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.
The CS said the confirmation of the heads of states set to attend is still streaming in.
Tuya said she went to Ethiopia to help push the agenda of the summit set to be held September 4 to 6.
The CS said the summit will call for finance architecture, adding that many countries are not able to put money into adaptation and mitigation while at the same time developing.
As of August 10, more than 12,500 delegates from across the world had been accredited to attend the Africa Climate Summit and the Africa Climate Week in Nairobi.
Based on the current trend, the state estimates that 20,000 delegates will attend both events.
Among the confirmed delegates include a total of 12 heads of state and government from Africa.
During the event, other high-level dignitaries and heads of international organisations and financial institutions, in addition to representatives from academia, researchers, civil society, women and youth from across the world, will attend.
The ministry has also received more than 550 applications for side events from across the world.
So far, 200 have been processed.
Tuya in the recent past said the impacts of climate change in Africa and the world are evident.
She said statistics have it that between 2011- to now, more than 17 million people in Africa have been affected with a combination of storms, droughts , wildfires, floods, and landslides, some of it leading to loss of precious lives.
On Africa’s food security, the 2023 Global Food Crisis Reports that more than 145 million people were food insecure as result of Climate Change.
The World Food Programme estimates that over 9.5 million livestock perished in the Horn of Africa region alone as a result of five consecutive seasons of failed rains. Some 7.4 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were displaced by Natural Disasters in 2022.
These displacements were caused by weather related events such as flooding, storms, and droughts amongst others. On the Economic front, the African Development Bank estimates that Africa has been losing between five and 15 per cent of GDP every year to Climate Change, with Climate related expenses in the forms of adaptation, driving up government expenses by over 10 percent of various African Government budgets.
The Summit has been organised around five key thematic areas namely: energy transition, green minerals and manufacturing, sustainable agriculture, and land use, sustainable infrastructure, and natural capital.