0 Kenya makes headway in accessing lucrative global carbon market

By BERNICE MBUGUA and GEORGE KEBASO

Kenya is destined to benefit from a National Carbon Accounting system, which will support the country’s access to carbon markets, through practical Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the government has said. Speaking during the opening session of the East African workshop on National Carbon Accounting Systems, Environment principal Secretary, Dr Richard Lesiyampe said this seeks to strengthen national capacities of East African Community (EAC) countries to implement national climate change policies and strategies.

“In Kenya, the forestry sector and REDD+ emission have been identified to strongly support realisation of our climate change mitigation and adaptation goals,” he said in remarks delivered on his behalf by Conservation Secretary, Gedion Gathaara. “A lot of preparatory activities to support its implementation have been initiated with support from my Ministry, the FCPF, UN-REDD and other bilateral partners,” he added.

Forests in Kenya provide critical ecosystems goods and services, including prevention of land degradation, and also help in regulating water supply; and support biodiversity, the PS noted. These forests, he said, are indiscriminately being cleared and degraded, and as a result creating negative impact that is contributing to food insecurity and climate change vulnerability.

The programme, under System for Land Based Emission and Estimation in Kenya (SLEEK) will seek to help Kenya to meet the national development goals and international reporting obligations. The principal secretary further added the government has launched a multi-stakeholder driven SLEEK programme to provide comprehensive estimates in GHG profiles from land sector.

“Kenya is keen to share lessons learned as Sleek is being implemented to enable other EAC countries to have an advantage and better starting point as they embark on development of their own national systems,” he said. Sleek will also establish sustainable economic development through improving food security via improved agricultural productivity, infrastructure and access to the market.

It also plans to reduce climate change and other environmental factors through both mitigation and adaption activities. The programme will run for three years with the Australian support after which the intent is for it to transition to the Government of Kenya for continued development and operational responsibility.

It is expected the system will be generating results and able to be fully operated by the Government of Kenya within three years, while recognisng it may take longer than three years for full SLEEK implementation. Government of Kenya will evaluate progress and re-assess feasible outcomes in the remaining time frame.

The System for Land-based Emissions Estimation in Kenya (Sleek) would enable the country to estimate; report and establish a basis for verification of her greenhouse gas emissions data from the land sector.  Valued at Sh1 billion (US$12.5 million) through the Australian government support, Sleek will help the country be able to use this data to reduce the GHG emissions.

During the launch of the project last month the Australian Ambassador to Kenya, Geoff Tooth said the system will boost economic growth and food security through improved land management, increased agricultural productivity and better water availability.  “We hope that our experiences in developing our own system, including the lessons we have learnt along the way, will help the Government of Kenya to develop Sleek as a world class system,” he said.

CCI Country Director, Jackson Kimani said the system will have a critical impact on the way Kenya responds to climate change.  “It will allow this country to understand its emissions in the past and to analyse what is likely to occur in the future,” added Kimani.  He, however, said the implications of SLEEK are far more wide-reaching than simply addressing emissions.

Source: The People

0 Nairobi Water Fund: Securing Water from Tap to Tap

With Nairobi’s population growing at almost 3% annually and water availability decreasing more rapidly as a result of climate change, the city and its four million residents face a serious challenge. More than 90% of Nairobi’s water and at least 60% of its electricity come from the Tana River.

School boys enjoying spring water in Maragua
sub watershed. Photo: Fred Kihara

The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a global not-for-profit organization, is working with 18 public and private partners, including Coca-Cola, East African Breweries, KENGEN and the Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA), to proactively address Kenya’s water scarcity issues by bringing the Water Fund model to Kenya. Over the past 12 years TNC has worked with partners in Latin America to create 32 Water Funds that now help to conserve water sources for tens of millions of people. The Nairobi Water Fund, started in 2012, marks the first for Africa.

The Water Fund model engages large, downstream users, usually corporations and utilities, that willingly contribute to a water conservation fund as a way of shoring up their business investments. Revenues generated by the water conservation fund are then used to help pay for water-smart management practices, such as tree-planting and terracing, on upstream lands that filter and regulate the water supply. A healthy watershed reduces water treatment costs, minimizes water shortages and enhances communities’ ability to adapt to climate change.

For the Nairobi Water Fund, TNC has completed a feasibility study, launched pilot conservation projects in three priority watersheds – Maragua, Sagana and Thika- Chania, all of which are important for Nairobi’s water and power supplies – developed environmental and socio-economic monitoring programs and formed a high-powered Steering Committee.

Over the next five years, the goal is to capitalize Nairobi’s water conservation fund and increase watershed conservation upstream efforts to further reduce sedimentation and water treatment costs. As sedimentation decreases through improved land management practices, so too will water treatment costs, which allows organizations like WRMA and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to channel more of their resources into efforts that improve treatment and distribution systems. Ultimately, the aim is to develop a replicable tool that can be used to ensure good water quality, adequate supply, lower treatment and distribution costs and reliable power in other parts of Africa.

Land owners implementing soil conservation measures in Upper Tana.
Photo credit: Fred Kihara

More information about Water Funds can be found in The Nature Conservancy’s Water Fund Manual or A Primer for Monitoring Water Funds

0 Re-Greening Africa in the Footsteps of Wangari Maathai

Re-Greening Africa in the Footsteps of Wangari Maathai
By Isaiah Esipisu

Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai campaigned to save the Mabira Forest Reserve.  Credit:Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

NAIROBI, Sep 28 , 2011 (IPS) - Africa needs to remain focused and continue following the late Professor Wangari Maathai’s initiatives for environmental sustainability in order to address climate change across the continent, environmentalists say.

Maathai, the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004, was founder of the Green Belt Movement , which aimed to reforest Kenya, stop soil erosion and provide firewood for families by paying poor women to plant trees. She passed away on Sep. 25.

"In the current era of climate change, the professor has left behind adaptation actions that we must implement in order to save the poorest of the poor that solely depend on the environment and natural resources," said Gaster Kawuubye Kiyingi, the national project manager for Tree Talk Plus , a network of organisations engaged in the development and sustainability of the forestry sector in Uganda.

Kiyingi said some of these adaptations include campaigning for forest-based enterprises and the sustained use and planting of more trees.

Since its inception in 1997 the Green Belt Movement has directly planted over 30 million trees in Africa and assisted nearly 900,000 women to establish nurseries and plant trees to reverse the effects of deforestation.

The United Nations estimated that by the time of Maathai’s death over 11 billion trees had been planted, especially in Africa, by different organisations through her campaign.

Kiyingi said Africa needs to stay focused on the late professor’s initiatives for environmental sustainability because it is key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals – eight time-bound goals tackling poverty and its various dimensions that the U.N. member states agreed to in 2000.

"There is an urgent need for Africa to address issues relating to environmental laws and governance, law enforcement and trade in natural resources. They are a ‘cancer’ eating at the very core of our leadership, and it is what Maathai (fought against)," he told IPS.

According to Jan Vandenabeele, the executive director of Better Globe Forestry Limited, a Kenyan afforestation company, there remains a need for civil society and social organisations to join hands to plant more trees and harvest them sustainably. But, he said, Kenya may be close to achieving Maathai’s dream.

"In Kenya the new constitution is very clear that every piece of arable land should have at least 10 percent of forest cover. If this is implemented, then we will be living the dream of the late Professor Maathai," said Vendenabeele.

He added that for Africa to realise the dream of a green continent there needs to be more investment in environmental research.

Dr. Maxwell Kinyanjui of the Woodlands Trust 2000, a Kenyan-based organisation that provides afforestation and allied services to those involved in the tree industry, said that in order to address the issue of deforestation in Africa, leaders and related organisations must begin by addressing energy sources.

"Charcoal production is one of the major causes of deforestation in Africa. But until farmers invest in sustainable charcoal production, people will continue cutting down trees that were not originally planted for the sake of charcoal production," he said.

Land grabbing is another problem that continues to affect forests in Africa. Maathai had always been steadfast in protecting natural resources, not only in Kenya, but also in other African countries. In Uganda she campaigned to save the Mabira Forest Reserve.

"I remember Professor Maathai for her efforts to protect Karura Forest on the outskirts of Nairobi city. The forest land had already been (claimed) by individuals linked to the former political regime between 1998 and 2002. But she protested until all the people who had been allocated land by the then government left," said Paul Barasa, a former senior corporate affairs officer at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute.

Maathai, a professor of veterinary anatomy, also prevented former Kenyan former President Daniel arap Moi from erecting a 62-storey building on a recreational park.

Now Uhuru Park is the largest public park in Kenya. It is adjacent to the city and is usually bursting with activity. Couples row boats on the lake, hundreds of children play on the grass while their parents relax under trees. Thanks to Maathai’s campaigning it is one of the most serene areas in Nairobi.

Kiyingi says more needs to be done to save the trees and forests of Africa.

"Each African country needs to have proper policies that can protect tree cover from illegal logging and encroachments. But the sad thing is that the very leaders who are supposed to protect the forests are the same people who grab forest land, or conspire with grabbers," said Kiyingi.

Kiyingi said that there are currently several tree planting initiatives in Uganda, most of which are linked to Maathai’s Green Belt Movement.

"Such efforts must be sustained at all costs because the environment is our livelihood," he said.

Maathai’s idea of providing incentives for people to plant trees needs to be replicated in order to realise the dream of a green Africa.

"The idea of undertaking tree planting as an income-generating activity will be sufficient motivation for tree planting across Africa and as a result, there seems to be a ray of hope in re-greening Africa."   (END)

Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS 
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0 Environmental degradation - Root causes

The environment is life, supporting people and other living things. Environment is widely recognized as a 'pillar' of sustainable development. It provides essential goods and services which contribute to meeting basic human needs, and is essential to human development and quality of life. It provides services to ecosystems, including water catchments which protect freshwater resources, wetlands, riverbank environments, biodiversity habitats and ecologically functioning landscapes. The environment is also a sink of the wastes generated from different human activities. 
The root causes of environmental change have both natural (mainly climatic variations and climate change) and human-made factors, and include interactions between them. Global processes are having a tremendous influence on environmental change in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and their impact on climate variability and change. These changes have not only regional to national dimensions, but also local implications as well. In Kenya like most of the Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a high dependency on agro-sylvoecological systems, which themselves depend on the state of the environment and local climatical conditions. 

Anthropogenic causes of environmental degradation at local level include deforestation, overgrazing, unplanned land management, firewood harvesting and urbanization, and encroachment of wetlands and rangelands for cultivation among others. With a population growth rate of 4%, Kenya has to come up with strategies to manage its environment and natural resources better to support food production to feed the nation, or slow down the infrastructural development to channel funds to import food. Maybe some drastic measures like 'a two child-policy per family' could help!' The process of environmental degradation is generally considered to be slow, but rapid changes in the state of an ecosystem can occur due to positive feedback loops that amplify initial small stochastic changes in conditions, resulting in runaway reactions in the ecosystem. This appears to be where we are as a nation, and we need to heed to call of wisdom. Albert Schweiter said “Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end up destroying the earth" and himself.

4 Going Going Gone: Case of Kenyan highlands Springs and Streams

I have been wondering, what is happening to our Springs and Streams! This question is prompted by my real life experiences and observations I have witnessed. In this post I take the case of Gakui stream, the one that I grew up knowing, playing with and taking my father’s cows to water. The stream emanates from Gakui spring at the end of Kiawambigo village, and empties its waters into Rathithi River. Rathithi River has its source in upstream springs and streams in tea growing areas, and is dammed into Ragati Dam before proceeding downwards to confluence with Gakui stream (Google Earth imagery for this region not clear!). Rathithi River empties its waters into Tana River (locally known as Sagana).

In the eighties, our parents could not allow us to go near Gakui stream after the rains (especially March – May long rains) fearing that we could be carried off and drown. In just less than twenty years, Gakui stream now flows for a few days after heavy rains then dries up. The stream is now dry.

Most middle-aged people in the rural areas in Kenya can attest that the environment around them and the climate has changed significantly, from the time they were young children about 25 – 30 years ago. It is obvious that older people can attest to more changes that have occurred in their lifetime. In the recent past, farmers could know when to prepare the land for planting as the rains were predictable, seasonal and reliable. The springs and local streams flowed with water, varying in volumes depending on the season, and were never dry. The valley bottoms were rich in riparian biodiversity. The stream waters were crystal clear, except during the rains, and the aquatic animals like fish (mainly Tilapia species), frogs (and their 'chained' eggs and tadpoles), water beetles and an array of water birds thrived. On the other hand, it was not uncommon to sight land-based animals like snakes, black and green mambas, hares, gazelles among others.

Needless to say, farmers nowadays do not know exactly when to do which farm management practice as they cannot foretell when the rains are coming. They are a confused lot; a complete departs from what used to happen before. There is increased variability and unreliability of rainfall, and confusing seasonality of rainfall events. In addition, the seasonal streams and rivers are now dry, and sustain reduced flows for a shorter period after the rains than before, or do not flow at all. Main reason could be that the water table has lowered significantly, and it has to be adequately recharged for the springs to start flowing again. The major perennial rivers in Kenya like Tana, Athi River, and others have now reduced volumes even during ‘normal’ long rains seasons. Volumes in big dams and lakes too, have not been spared, as it is the case of Ndaka-ini dam and Lake Naivasha.