Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning, Ukur Yatani, says the East African nation has launched a 34.5 million dollar-worth project (3.4 billion shillings) to boost climate resilience in eleven arid and semi-arid counties.
The project dubbed “Towards Ending Drought Emergencies (TWENDE) will leverage ecosystem-based approaches to strengthen the resilience of farmers and herders in arid lands grappling with climatic shocks.
The five-year project would be financed by the Kenyan government in conjunction with development partners to transform the livelihoods of 620,000 people.
It would restore 500,000 hectares of range lands in the eleven drought-prone counties of Kenya.
Yatani told journalists the launch of the TWENDE project domiciled in the Green Climate Fund (GCF) dovetails with Kenya’s quest to leverage on domestic financing to boost climate resilience among vulnerable demographics.
He admits Kenya has enacted progressive regulatory and policy frameworks to boost climate financing and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable economic sectors like agriculture, tourism and manufacturing.
Yatani believes responding to the climate challenge especially in the era of COVID-19 will require collective and innovative action including significant financial resources from both the public and private sectors.”
The launch of the TWENDE project is expected to strengthen the capacity of communities in arid lands to cope with recurrent droughts linked to climate change.
