Reflections on Policies and Institutional Mechanisms for Climate Change Management in Kenya

Abstract

Climate change poses serious challenges worldwide. It manifests itself in the frequent occurrence of various disasters such as droughts and floods which directly or indirectly impact key sectors of the global economy. In Kenya for instance, the drought of 2017-2018 led to more than three million food insecure people, about 5 percent rise in livestock sales and over half a million people without access to water. These impacts are exacerbated even more with the ever-increasing human population in the country which limits the viability of people’s livelihood resources such as land, compromises infrastructure development and lowers productivity. To effectively address the challenges posed by climate change, the government of Kenya has enacted various policies and established institutions with requisite action plans to guide in the management of climate change in the country. This paper provides a reflection on the various policies and institutions that have been established to deal with climate change in the country, elucidates some of the challenges faced and proposes possible interventions to the challenges. Specific recommendations are made at the end of the paper.