Sixteen more weather information collection centres will be established within the Lake Victoria Basin help generate climate change information to the residents.
The coordinator of Adopting to Climate Change in the Lake Victoria Basin, at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry official, Maiyani Saino, has said that the Lake Victoria Basin Commission has already donated 16 rain gauges to be used in 16 sites in Busia and Siaya counties, as part of the programme aimed at using the local community to generate climate information.
Speaking in Siaya during the training of select locals who will help to collect and disseminate the data to relevant bodies, Saino said that the government was taking climate change seriously as the economy of the nation depends on climate sensitive sectors.
“Sectors such as agriculture, water, energy, tourism and wildlife all depend on climate and if we are not able to address this matter, then our economy will be affected negatively,” she said.
The coordinator said that Kenya believes that timely and accurate climate information is a very good tool in addressing climate adaptation and climate change mitigation.
Saino said that the project was supporting three groups in Siaya and Busia counties that promote use of green energy.
Among technologies that they are promoting were use of solar, beekeeping, good agricultural practice and cover vegetation for soil conservation.
Lake Victoria Basin Commission Regional Project Manager, Dr Masinde Bwire, said the project, funded through the global adaptation fund through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Lake Victoria Basin Commission, will see the trainees use the gadgets generate information to the local people.
Siaya County Director of Meteorological Services, Dominic Arodi, said members of the community received training on how to record rainfall data and advice local farmers on rainfall patterns.
Arodi hailed the LVBC for donating rain gauges, saying that it will help his department achieve its target of having a weather recording station within a radius of five kilometres of each other.
By Philip Onyango
