Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been named the new chairperson for the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).
According to a statement issued by the Kenya State House, Kenyatta takes on the mantle as chairperson from South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa who, in his virtual congratulatory message, said Kenya is up to the task for being “a leading voice on issues of climate change in Africa”.
Under President Kenyatta’s tenure, Kenya has become one of the African countries that has submitted an update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as a requirement by the Paris Agreement to show individual country effort on climate action.
The appointment of the Kenyan President is ahead of the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) billed for Egypt later this year.
Already, the impact of climate change is alive in Africa as global warming is contributing to longer droughts, flooding and cyclones.
Programme Manager at Power Shift Africa and one of the negotiators for COP, Fatuma Hussein stated that since Africa did not reap big from COP26, having President Kenyatta at the top seat is a plus to push the African Climate agenda forward.
She suggested that at COP27, Africa should focus on energy transition, scaling up adaptation measures and climate finance, and addressing loss and damage.