Youth Senate Kenya in partnership with the African Youth Commission (AYC) and the County Government of Kajiado, hosted its first Youth Assembly in Kajiado County, with a focus on involving the youth on climate change.
According to Michael Nyongesa from the Africa Youth Commission, the youth are an important component in the society and should be involved in climate change issues.
“The United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP27) conference held in Egypt identified the youth as important people in the society, who should be involved in matters climate change,” said Nyongesa.
“The youth are higher in population thus should be involved in tree planting and sensitizing the community about climate change,” added Nyongesa.
Sheila Anyango from Youth Senate-Migori County, reiterated Nyongesa’s remarks and added that youth should be part of providing solutions to mitigate climate change.
‘’We feel that the youth have not been engaged in some critical conversations on matters that affect us directly yet the youth are more than 70 percent of the population in our country, said Anyango.
There is therefore need to engage them fully in making decisions about climate change,” noted Anyango
She added that youth within the rural areas in the counties also need to be empowered just like the ones in the urban areas for real change to be witnessed.
Anyango revealed that there will be more youth assemblies countrywide with the focus on climate change and urges all the youth to come out and be part of the conversation in providing solutions to climate change.
The Youth Assembly brought together the youth from all the wards in Kajiado County, community members, Members of County Assembly (MCAs), County Government officials, Local CSOs, and the private sector.
Lenny Leng’ete, one of the youth leaders in Kajiado urged the Maa community to stop sand harvesting and charcoal burning, which are some of the activities that degrade the environment.
“I urge my community to plant more trees, practice fish farming and bee keeping as other sources of income instead of selling charcoal and sand, which degrades our environment,” advised Leng’ete.
The Youth Assembly was held under the theme; ‘Strengthening youth voices in Climate related policy processes and access to finance climate actions’.
By Sammy Rayiani and Diana Meneto
