Celebrities' role as catalysts for climate action

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It's a season to be jolly, now that Kenya has bagged billions of shillings at COP28. At the ongoing global climate talks in Dubai, President William Ruto not only shone during the Africa Green Industrialisation Initiative launch but also closed deals worth more than Sh640 billion, some initiated last year. He returns home more energised to tackle food insecurity and unemployment and with the hope to achieve his 10-year tree planting initiative that will reduce biodiversity loss and increase carbon sequestration.

All seems good, except that such funds are rarely without any strings attached, yet Africans still suffer deadly climate disasters. Kenya, for instance, has recently lost dozens of lives in El Nino. This week, tens of lives were lost in Tanzania after hours of flooding in Hanang District, where nearly 200 people were also injured.