• FAO says African countries have been intervening through building the resilience of affected communities in the region through different approaches
• This unharmonised approach has resulted in a challenge in data collection, analysis, quantifying the impact and dissemination of such information
Image: CHETI PRAXIDES
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations will develop a data collection tool to be used in building climate change resilience interventions.
This is in an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of these resilience-building initiatives.
Hamisi Williams, the assistant FAO representative in Kenya for programmes, said the country has experienced several climatic events attributable to climate change.
“We suffered a prolonged drought that was followed by flooding and the invasion of desert locusts,” he said.
“All these were emergencies that required that we intervene in the short term as we build resilience for the long term.”
He spoke during the opening session of a meeting with climate resilience building experts drawn from 11 African countries.
The meeting was convened by FAO to discuss unified tools for climate change impacts.
Hamisi noted that Africa bears the greatest burden of climate change impacts.
He said the tool will be instrumental for the participating countries in assessing interventions that have improved the livelihoods and food security of communities that are affected by various stresses and shocks.
“In the recent past, the continent has experienced drought, floods, invasion by pests and diseases that have negatively affected crop and livestock production and flared conflicts between communities,” he said.
Kenya is currently experiencing heavy rains, which have so far left people displaced and crops and property damaged.
The long rains season is at its peak this month, and the rainfall outlook for April 2024 indicated that near to above-average rainfall is expected across most parts of the country.
According to the Kenya MET, isolated episodes of heavy rainfall may occur in various parts of the country during the month.
David Gikungu, Kenya MET director said there will be more heavy rains that could uproot trees and cause floods and mudslides in various parts of the country.
The Environment ministry says Kenya’s economy is highly dependent on natural resources.
Therefore, recurring droughts, erratic rainfall patterns and floods will continue to negatively impact livelihoods and community assets.
To address this, the ministry coordinated the development of the National Climate Change Response Strategy in 2010, and the National Climate Change Action Plan in 2012.
This National Adaptation Plan seeks to address the country’s vulnerability and resilience to climate change.
It was developed through a cooperative and consultative process that included stakeholders from the government, the private sector and the civil society with the support of international development agencies.
Hamisi said FAO has been actively engaged in emergency interventions, while simultaneously working to enhance the resilience of individuals, households and communities across the region (Africa).
These interventions have been done differently from one country to another.
“This makes it hard to objectively document these climate change activities because the region does not have a tool to document data collection, analysis and dissemination of this information,” Hamisi said.
He said countries have been intervening through building the resilience of affected communities in the region through different approaches.
“This unharmonised approach has resulted in a challenge when it comes to data collection, analysis, quantifying the impact and dissemination of such information,” he said.
During the workshop, the participants shared experiences and lessons learned from the national climate change resilience-building efforts.
The goal of the ongoing workshop is to identify effective practices and foster a collaborative environment for sharing experiences and knowledge on resilience strategies.