Protect environment or perish, Kenyans warned

By John Njiraini

Death, conflicts and poverty will continue to ravage the country as the adverse effects of climate change worsen.

According to a new World Bank report on development and climate change, failure to tackle global warming now is planting seeds of disaster in the future.

"We will die and our animals will die unless we do what we are supposed to do in conserving the environment," said Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai during the launch of the report at the UN offices in Gigiri, Nairobi yesterday.

The report says unless the Government takes the bold step of conserving the environment, starting with an immediate restoration of the five water towers, Kenya will be among countries that would suffer the most.

Economic collapse

Catastrophes ranging from floods, droughts, hunger, malnutrition, diseases and conflicts due to dwindling resources to economic collapse that would sink millions more into hopelessness would increase, the report warns.

The report comes at a time when the country is bitterly divided on the issue of evictiond from the Mau Forest Complex.

While it calls for co-operation among countries to tackle the challenge posed by climate change now considered the second biggest threat to human existence after nuclear bombs.

"The Government is committed to save the Mau but the logistics involved are not easy," said Environment Minister John Michuki.

According to the report, the developed world is the main contributor to changes in weather patterns because they produce most of the greenhouse gas emissions.

But developing countries are expected to suffer significantly, bearing about 80 per cent of the damages caused by climate change.

"Developing countries will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change even as they strive to overcome poverty and advance economic growth. For these countries, climate change threatens to deepen vulnerability, erode hard-won gains and seriously undermine prospects of development," states the report.

Agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa, would suffer significantly because as much as 20 per cent of arable land will become unproductive for agriculture by 2080.

This will lead to rural-urban migration, with about 300 million new residents in towns in the next 25 years, something that will make urban planning unbearable.

Worse still, 90 million more people in the continent would be exposed to deadly diseases like malaria by 2030 while conflicts for water among humans and even with animals would intensify.

Economic progress that has been achieved in the continent in recent years could be wiped out sinking more people back into abject poverty and hopelessness.

"Countries in sub-Saharan Africa need scaled-up financial and technological support to help vulnerable people adopt to climate change," said Ms Marianne Fay, chief economist at the World Bank.

She said $10 billion (Sh759 billion) is needed annually to tackle the challenges of climate change.