Let's make the best out of climate change action

A flooded house in Sunlight, Mwandoni area, Mombasa County. 100 families in the area have been affected by flash floods. [Robert Menza, Standard]

It has been an interesting week, with good but also weird, if not bad news on climate change. The best was that Germany finally shut down the last three of its nuclear plants; now transiting to cleaner and renewable energy.

However, the UAE, host to COP28 later this year, is planning a massive expansion of its oil production at a time research, including by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has shown that new and expanded fossil fuel projects will be the end of humanity in this climate crisis.

The country's choice of COP28 president, Sultan Al Jaber, remains controversial, with his one leg in the fossil fuel industry as Group CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil, and another in renewable energy. The UAE is just confusing us!

Elsewhere in the UK, at least 170 lawyers opted to break the "cab-rank rule", which mandates them to represent any client whose case falls within their competence without bias. Despite being initially punishable, including by being struck off the profession's register, the local law society allowed the learned friends to opt out of cases involving climate activists arrested in protests, if they choose to.

The lawyers have chosen this path as a way to support climate action. Several scientists and researchers have also stopped burying their heads in the labs and are more outspoken on climate action. It is becoming a moral issue.

Changing tack

While people are changing tack in dealing with the climate crisis, governments in the global South must also make it a moral obligation to learn from the past, increase disaster preparedness and prioritise saving lives. It is now a norm that after every prolonged drought, floods follow, with huge losses in lives and property. The Horn of Africa has recently suffered its worst drought in 40 years. But what has changed?

By last February, Kenya was still talking of 23 counties worst hit by drought, with pastoralist and other communities losing livestock and wealth. Now 19 counties are faced with flooding, with at least 12 human lives already lost and diseases, including rotavirus, prevalent. Yet 2023 promises to be hotter, with the El Nino weather imminent.

Foreseeable disasters

The opportunity in the current flooding disasters lies in tripling efforts to harvest the rain water now. This as Kenya continues to push for funding for climate mitigation and adaptation, and maximizes on the indigenous knowledge and locally led action to forestall human suffering and biodiversity loss. If last year revenue and sources of livelihood were lost in tourism, transport, agriculture, Blue Economy or any other sector due to drought, what measures will we have put in place this year to prevent a recurrence?

Governments can say all they plan to do, the money set aside for whatever action, but if the problem recurs and lives are lost to foreseeable disasters in this day and era...then let's do what the holy book says: "Remind them even though they know."

Some of the questions to ask ourselves is how well do leaders understand the climate problem? Do they treat it with the seriousness it deserves? How will this knowledge help them plan with available resources and grab opportunities that lie in climate action? Do they educate their supporters to do the right thing on environment as a moral duty?

While we push corporates to play their role in climate action by funding greener projects, let's use what is at hand to prevent recurrence of people's suffering.

-The writer is communications manager at GreenFaith. @lynno16 | [email protected]