Along the Marua-Sagana State Lodge Road, in Mathira, Nyeri county, Rui Ruiru River has a section with a cascade and caves, where the Mau Mau used to hide during the struggle for independence.
Years back, you could hear the river bubble or roar from afar. A water project to serve the nearby Kahiraini Catholic Parish and the village was put up.
Now, all these are gone, the river a small quiet stream.
This is the story for many rivers in that region, including the once mighty River Sagana, an area that is just a few kilometres from Mt Kenya. This means more struggle for residents in water access.
A few kilometres in Kieni, Laikipia county, there is River Tigithi, which whenever we would visit our uncle for the December holidays as young kids, we would often enjoy doing a dive and swimming. Today, it has shrunk at that section to a point where you don’t need a bridge to cross, even on foot. This is the story of many rivers in Kenya.
We are just coming from the worst drought in four decades that extended to the Horn of Africa, a situation heavily attributed to climate change. The World Weather Attribution group in a report this year found the drought would not have happened without the effect of greenhouse gas emissions.
The study, which looked at southern Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Kenya, found higher temperatures significantly increased evaporation from soil and plants, making dry soils much more likely.
"Without this effect, the region would not have experienced agricultural drought when crops and pastures are affected by dry conditions over the last two years … Instead, widespread crop failures and livestock deaths have left more than 20 million people at risk of acute food insecurity," the report summary by the 19 scientists said.
The drought led to huge losses in the region, with the State Department of Livestock confirming Kenya lost at least 2.5 million head of cattle, with 10 million others left at risk due to lack of water and pasture. This scarcity also led to violent conflicts in parts of Kenya among pastoralists as they competed for the little remaining water and pasture and between pastoralists and farmers.
Far away in Asia, Beijing experienced high temperatures in June and July, recording its hottest June day on Thursday the 22nd in more than 60 years, with the mercury touching 41.1C (105.9F), according to Chinese weather authorities.
The previous June high was logged on June 10, 1961, when the mercury hit 40.6C, with the highest temperature recorded by the city being 41.9C on July 24, 1999.
Then followed the swings from extreme heat to heavy rainfall, with the city recording its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years as remnants of Typhoon Doksuri deluged the affected areas.
Aljazeera quoted regional authorities saying the heavy rains in the western outskirts led to the collapse of 59,000 homes, damage to almost 150,000 others and flooding of more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of cropland, the city’s government said on Wednesday.
The death toll rose to 33, including five rescuers, while 18 other people were reported missing.
Scientists say the global surface temperature in July was 1.12c above average, making July the warmest in the 174-year of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An analysis published by Berkley Earth in July found there to be a more than 80 per cent chance of 2023 being the hottest year on record.
Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon famously said in 2015 that climate change carries no passport and knows no national borders.
“Countries must work toward the common interest, beyond narrow national interests,” Ban said in a briefing to an informal meeting of the General Assembly ahead of the 21st Conference of States Parties to the UN Framework convention on Climate Change.
He was urging parties conclude a meaningful agreement in Paris by overcoming various contentious issues among the negotiators that included equity and differentiation, finance and ambition. Some of these challenges remain to date and have escalated and created a division between the Global North and the Global South, or the top emitters and the least emitters.
President William Ruto, who has picked climate change issue as one of his top domestic and foreign policy priority issues, has said climate action is not a Global North or a Global South issue.
“It is our collective challenge, and it affects all of us. We need to come together to find common, global solutions,” President Ruto is on record saying.
He has added that Kenya is in the Paris climate summit not to beg from the rich countries, but to ensure a reform of the global financial architecture that enables developing countries to participate in the solution.
And to possibly offer a solution, the President has championed the Africa Climate Summit that will be held in Nairobi between September 4-8 to address the increasing exposure to climate change and its associated costs — globally and in Africa.
Organisers say the summit will serve as a platform to inform, frame and influence commitments, pledges and outcomes, ultimately leading to the development of the Nairobi Declaration.
This must not be another talking shop. It ought to be a platform where Africa and developing world voices are heard and solutions fronted “with the expectation of escalating climate crises in terms of frequency and intensity”, even as it builds momentum ahead of COP28 in Dubai.
The phrase “Africa continues to be among the worst hit by the consequences of climate change, despite emitting the lowest levels of greenhouse gases” must not be seen as a cliché.
According to the UN Environmental Programme, with just about two to three per cent of global emissions, Africa stands out disproportionately as the most vulnerable region in the world. The vulnerability, UNEP says, is driven by the prevailing low levels of socioeconomic growth in the continent.
“While climate change is global, the poor are disproportionately vulnerable to its effects. This is because they lack the resources to afford goods and services, they need to buffer themselves and recover from the worst of the changing climate effects. This is the case in Africa,” UNEP says.
This must be acknowledged and compensated for (not loaned), if practical solutions to climate change are to be realised. Climate Policy Initiative research estimates fully funding Africa’s mitigation needs would cost $1.6 trillion by 2030, along with an additional $580 billion for adaptation and $242 billion for “dual benefit” measures.
