Senator Okenyuri calls for acceleration of policy framework on youths acquiring green skills

Nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri when KEMSA officials appeared before Senate Committee on Health on July 12 ,2023. [Elvis Ogina ,Standard]

Nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri has called on the government to accelerate the formulation of a policy framework to establish the extent in which the youth have acquired green skills.

In a statement to the Senate, Okenyuri said currently the country is not in a position to measure to what extent youth have acquired the green skills.

 “The situation is much more dire as the extent to which our youth have acquired green skills has not been measured and as we all know what is not measured can never be managed, the government must therefore accelerate the formulation of a policy framework under which we cannot coordinate and consolidate our interventions,” said Okenyuri.

The senator said the youth need to be made aware of the unique challenges their generation has to grapple with and be helped to be ready to turn these challenges into opportunities.

She said as much as president William Ruto is cutting a powerful global voice on matters of climate change mitigation, there is great need for the relevant ministry to translate this strategic position by the President into tangible benefits for the young people.

This she said can be made possible through registering the youth in community groups which participate in activities such as tree planting which has the effect of reducing carbon emissions while earning carbon credits.

Okenyuri said there is also need for the country to recommit in empowering the youth with green skills as well as access to resources and opportunities with collaboration in policies that promote sustainable development, encourage ecofriendly practices and support initiatives that mitigate the impact of climate change.

United Nations has expanded this year's theme ‘Green Skills for youth towards a sustainable world’ into five major areas of concern, that certain knowledge abilities, values and attitudes are needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource efficient society.

Senator Okenyuri said the UN has focused on the fact that the youth will endure severe climate events longer, with a child born in 2020 having to endure more than double of drought, flooding, crop failure and wildfires compared to a child born in 1960.

While maintaining that many jobs will be created by the green transition, the Senator said the UN report indicates that the youth will experience significant changes in economic opportunities with climate change threatening 40 per cent of all jobs that are heavily reliant on a healthy environment.

Okenyuri told the house that skills demand globally exceeds supply which means 60 per cent of young people will lack the necessary skills to thrive in the green economy in 2030 with an analysis by Linked in showing that between 2022 and 2023 the share of jobs posting with at least one green skill increased by 22.4 per cent.

She said the UN report has shown that there are disparities that must be addressed including technology divide with 67 per cent of the youth not having digital skills due to lack of basic resources while those with university education obtain green skills quicker than the youth with no university education.

Okenyuri said the current occupational gender stereotypes are likely to persist as it is claimed that the green transition will favour male dominant sectors with 19 million jobs being created for men as compared to 6 million jobs for women globally.