The FAC Climate Change theme convened a policy discussion roundtable in Nairobi, 31 January 2012, to discuss key findings of recent FAC research on the status of agricultural climate change policy process in Kenya. The roundtable was attended by mix of senior government, civil society and donor representatives.
The roundtable aimed, first, to get feedback on the draft country case study report from key stakeholders in Kenya. Second, the purpose of the roundtable was to bring together a range of diverse actors, as identified through the theme’s PIPA, to create a forum for discussion around Kenya’s policies and strategies on climate change and agriculture. FAC’s Climate Change theme is focusing on the politics of climate and agriculture policy processes. By organising policy roundtables, it seeks to contribute to broadening debates on climate change and agriculture, highlighting voices and narratives that may not be part of dominant debates and discourses.
Video and presentations have been published from the session. The research, conducted by FAC Researchers Immaculate Maina, Michael Okoti and Andrew Newsham, mapped different actors dealing with climate change in the agricultural sector in Kenya with a view to understand the current status quo, emerging narratives and the political processes that influence climate change policy making. The research revealed a multiplicity of public/private and national/international actors, initiatives and interests driving climate change and agriculture policy in Kenya in a variety of directions (both on the mitigation and adaptation side). Some of these actors and interests overlap and reinforce one another, but many others are pulling in different directions and some are pursuing seemingly contradictory and conflicting agendas that work at cross purposes, thus undermining their individual and collective effectiveness. The research also looked at the key policy spaces in which important decisions relating to climate policy on agriculture are made and how they are likely to unfold in future. And lastly, the implications of national Kenyan policy process for action on the ground in the agricultural sector were explored.
The discussion and country case study are timely as Kenya’s National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) (GoK 2010) is due to be operationalised through a National Climate Change Action Plan, to be finalised June 2012. The two key Government bodies on climate change are the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR), which is the lead technical agency, and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), which has a coordinating function. The Kenyan civil society has had an active role in consultations for the NCCRS, for the most part through the Kenya Climate Change Working Group (KCCWG). KCCWG is in the process of preparing a draft Climate Change Bill which is due to go before the Kenyan Parliament.[1] Follow up meetings organised by FAC are planned to take place over 2012.
- Research update: https://www.future-agricultures.org/publications/research-and-analysis/doc_download/1484-research-update-climate-chaos-policy-dilemmas
[1] http://www.kccwg.org/index.php/en/news/104-key-milestones-in-the-climate-change-bill?CSRF_TOKEN=