The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry has collaborated with Changamwe Member of Parliament, Omar Mwinyi, to sensitise the youth of Mombasa County on how to monetize environment cleaning and waste management while reducing climate change risks in the community.
Speaking during the workshop held at Pride Inn Paradise in Shanzu, Mwinyi said that the main objective of the workshop was to sensitise the youth about clean energy, restoration, and focusing mainly on mangrove planting.
He acknowledged that Mombasa has the lowest coverage of mangroves, hence the need to encourage the youth from the training to start projects on mangroves, which can also help them amass the benefits that other communities are accruing.
Mwinyi said that by the end of the training, they are looking to attain solutions on better ways to take care of the environment, more efficient and clean cooking methods, and mobilise more mangrove planting.
“We want to ignite the youth so that they are able to look at their environment and see the income opportunities that they have in waste, and for that matter, they will be taken through bankable proposals”, Mwinyi said.
Director Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry, Pacifica Ogola, said that by the end of the two-day workshop, they would have taken the youth through bankable proposals and how to develop them.
Ogola said that the quest to look for green job opportunities should inspire the youth to look into their environments to seize the opportunities, form cooperatives, and make proposals that can mobilise finance to create wealth.
She encouraged the youth that there is a lot of wealth in waste, restoration, and effluent management, and by doing so, they will also be reducing emissions and rebuilding the resilience of the local communities.
“I commit to keeping this journey going by bringing in more participants from the private sector to work together with the government and scientists so that we acquire a holistic approach to this matter,” Ogola said.
She pledged that they will also formalise youth groups to generate income from the green jobs that will be created from this approach.
Ogola said he will work with the national Treasury to access the ‘Financing Locally Led Climate Action’ programme being supported by the World Bank and other partners.
Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) Senior Researcher James Kairo said that it was important to encourage the youth and the community to plant mangroves because, apart from preventing soil erosion, they are the main absorbents of carbon dioxide from the environment.
By Fatuma Said
