County Governments told to give climate change issues priority.

 The National Coordinator of Sustainable Environmental Development Watch {Suswatch} Kenya Norbert Nyandire at his office in Kisumu.He has urged the County Governments to give priority to issues of Climate Change.-Photo By James Keyi.

By Dickson Odhiambo.

March 12, 2018.

County Governments told to give climate change issues priority.

THE County Governments across the country have been urged to give priority to issues of climate change.

The National Coordinator of Sustainable Environmental Development Watch {Suswatch} Kenya Norbert Nyandire says the County Governments needs to prioritize the issues of climate change.

During a media interview with this writer, Nyandire said the Organization is currently implementing a program known as Devolution and climate change adaptation in Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties.

He says they are working with other three partners namely CREPP international, Osienala and Umande Trust which has come together so as to implement the program which runs for three years.

The Suswatch Kenya National Coordinator says the program aims to bring together the county governments to come up with climate change policies within these two county Governments.

“These policies should help the local communities so as to adapt on the issues of climate change and to look at us we can fund different activities of climate change in these two counties,” he says.

Nyandire says they are also partnering with two organizations namely Fredric Ebert Stiftung and Transparency International where they are combining their resources so as to see how these two counties can formulate the climate change policies.

Nyandire says in Kisumu they are currently at the last stages of formulating the climate change policies and in Homa Bay the work on formulating climate change policies has just begun.

“We are working with different groups within these two counties to ensure that these policies come to a reality,” he adds.

He says they have also been actively involved in the formation of the County Integrated Development Plan {CIDPs} in both Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties.

“From the CIDPs guidelines that has been developed by the Ministry of Devolution and planning climate change is one of the issues which is a cross cutting and all the departments are required to mainstream the climate change in their work,” he further says.

Nyandire adds that if well mainstreamed, the issue of climate change aspect is brought to the fore by the County Governments.

He says currently, some counties have started to benefit from funding on different climate change initiatives.

“Once these County Governments puts these policies in place, then there are various opportunities of getting funds so as to help in addressing the issues of climate change within their counties,” Nyandire adds.

He says at National level, already there is the National Climate Change Act of 2016 which stipulates the roles of both the National and County Governments with regards to climate change issues.

“We are looking forward to better engagements with the various county Government to ensure that issues of climate change are given a priority,” he adds.

Nyandire has lauded some county Governments which have fully included the issues of Climate change in their Counties Integrated Development Plans {CIDPs}.

Nyandire adds that one of the issues which should be urgently addressed on Climate change is the issue of increasing the percentage of forest cover where county governments should provide tree seedlings to farmers so as to plant them thereby improving the forest cover.

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