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Nov 11 2009

Climate change – a common challenge and top EU priority

H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Kenya's Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga. Photo: Neil Thomas

On November 11th 2009, the Embassy of Sweden in its capacity as Presidency of the European Union, together with United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the Kenyan Institute for Law and Environmental Governance (ILEG), organised a conference in Nairobi under the theme "Climate Change: A Common Challenge". The conference was intended to contribute to raising awareness on the impacts that climate change and the climate change negotiating process has and will have on Kenya and its people, and on the actions needed now and beyond the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen (COP15). The conference attracted close to 200 enthusiastic participants from all sectors and backgrounds.

In the opening speeches, H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the Ambassador of Sweden to Kenya Mrs Ann Dismorr, the Deputy Executive Director of UNEP Ms Angela Cropper, and the Prime Minister of Kenya Rt Hon Raila Odinga declared their commitment to combating climate change and its negative effects especially in developing countries such as Kenya.

Ambassador Dismorr explained the key elements of the European Union’s engagement in combating climate change, a top priority of the Swedish EU Presidency.

> Read the Swedish Ambassador Mrs Ann Dismorr's speech

A much appreciated presentation was made of the Report of the Commission on Climate Change and Development, "Closing the Gaps", followed by presentations of interesting work on Green Economy (UNEP) and on the Economics of Adaptation in Kenya (Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)/ DFID/ Danida). The Kenyan Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources presented the draft Climate Change Response Strategy for Kenya, which outlines how Kenya proposes to take on the challenges outlined by the previous presenters. The Government of Kenya was commended for taking the bold initiative to develop this strategy. Subsequent discussions highlighted the complexity of achieving climate-proof sustainable development in Kenya.

Conference participants were in agreement that climate change needs to be mainstreamed into all sectors, and into Kenya's overarching national development strategy "Vision 2030". Furthermore, many participants referred to the devastating consequences of the current drought in Kenya and highlighted the need to act NOW. In particular, problems related to water resource management, sustainable livelihoods and water harvesting for agriculture were mentioned. Adaptation to climate variability, including floods and droughts, is obviously long overdue in Kenya, and will only be more acute as climate change sets in.

In a closing panel discussion on the theme "Destination Copenhagen", Sweden, Kenya and Denmark (represented by the Ambassador of Denmark to Kenya Mr Bo Jensen) debated on the need for firm commitment on reduction of greenhouse gases, and on the establishment of reliable, flexible large-scale funding mechanisms both for climate change adaptation and for carbon sequestration. Recognising that climate change is a Common Challenge, there is no alternative to pursuing negotiations and eventually Seal The Deal.

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