County governments have not been able to access the Global Green Climate Fund (GCF) due to lack of capacity to write proposals that can attract funding.
Dr. Joanes Odiwuor a Senior Research Fellow at the African Centre for Technology Studies said although the devolved units had made strides in initiating climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, little had been done to access the 100 billion US dollar fund to finance the projects.
Dr. Odiwour said there was need for capacity building to upscale the projects and make them visible on the global map to attract the GCF set aside for developing countries.
‘‘Counties have been carrying out climate change mitigation projects at the grass root level and these efforts need to be brought in the global arena so that it can attract the attention of donors and the international community,” he said.
Speaking on Wednesday at Wote during a mapping and upscaling of climate change action in Kenya, Dr. Odiwour said climate change was a menace and the best practices being implemented in devolved units should inform both national and global policies for climate change.
He noted that African Centre for Technology Studies among other partners were in the fore front of carrying out research and coming up with the best models that can match climate change policies and strategies at the counties.
Odiwuor added that despite the efforts in fighting climate change, the ravaging effects were still being felt especially in areas like Makueni.
‘‘Makueni has been earmarked as one of the hot spot counties facing climate change and more needs to be done to come up with mitigation and adaptation measures,’’he added.
Speaking at the same event, Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau said insufficient funding for climate change programmes was one of the main challenges facing the county and called for a unified fight against the menace.
‘‘I appreciate the efforts by Anglican Development Services and UKAID whom we have partnered with successfully to implement the climate change projects in Makueni,’’ said Mwau.
By Roselyne Kavoo
