Kenyan Climate Innovation Center Launched to Boost Green Technologies in Africa

The Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) is a pilot programme being supported by the World Bank, government of Denmark and UKAid.  It was launched yesterday, October 1^st 2012.The CIC is an innovative model to accelerate locally owned, locally developed solutions to climate change. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving climate resiliency, it will accelerate business in high-growth sectors such as renewable energy, agriculture, clean water, and energy efficiency. The Kenya CIC will be seeded by a contribution of US$15 million over five years.

The CIC aims to help Kenya achieve a mix of economic, environmental and social results, including green jobs and the start up for green companies, reduced CO2 emissions and enhanced climate resilience, access to clean energy and water and strengthened technology and innovation capacity.

The establishment of the CIC is also in hope of transforming Kenya into a middle income country. The grouping of countries according to their income was developed by World Bank World Development Indicators. These countries lay within a certain range or a set of parameters (about $1,000 to $12,000 gross national income per person). Kenya is said to have the potential to move from a low income to a middle income country if its economy can increase at about 6% per year, according to World Bank. Some countries that fall into the middle income category include South Africa, Brazil and recently China.

We have to acknowledge the efforts being done by the World Bank and other donors in trying to encourage a green economy in Kenya. This is a good step towards the positive side and all we can hope is that the youth take advantage of such scenarios and build themselves into the entrepreneurs and leaders they can be.

For Climate Governance and Integrity Programme (CGIP), all we hope is that there will be transparent and accountable use of these funds that are being set aside for this project. Funds that are aimed for climate change projects have not been of focus to many people especially the public, yet they have a right to know how such funds are being used.

We hope that through this project, many success stories will emerge, as success stories act as motivators to other unsettled minds.

Climate Change 101

In every aspect in life, definition of terms is important. Much may be said about climate change but without the basics, not much will get through. So what terms are often used in discussions concerning climate change?

Climate Change: Refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a

result of human activity. (IPCC – Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change). In summary, the observed change in weather patterns, the extremes being observed in weather patterns all over the world could be described as climate change.

Climate variability refers to shorter term (daily, seasonal, annual, inter-annual, several years) variations in climate, including the fluctuations associated with El Niño (dry) or La Niña (wet) events.

Adaptation – Practical steps to protect countries and communities from the likely disruption and damage

that will result from effects of climate change. For example, flood walls should be built and in numerous

cases it is probably advisable to move human settlements out of flood plains and other low-lying areas…”

(Website of the UNFCCC Secretariat)

Adaptation Benefits – The avoided damage costs or the accrued benefits following the adoption and

implementation of adaptation measures. (IPCC TAR)

Adaptation Costs – Costs of planning, preparing for, facilitating, and implementing adaptation measures,

including transition costs. (IPCC TAR)

Adaptive Capacity – The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and

extremes), to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the

consequences. (IPCC TAR)

Coping Capacity – The means by which people or organizations use available resources and abilities to

face adverse consequences that could lead to a disaster. (In general, this involves managing resources,

both in normal times as well as during crises or adverse conditions. The strengthening of coping

capacities usually build resilience to withstand the effects of natural and human-induced hazards.)

(UN/ISDR)

Coping range – Is the range of climate where the outcomes are beneficial or negative but tolerable;

beyond the coping range, the damages or loss are no longer tolerable and a society (or a system) is said

to be vulnerable. (UNDP,

A Disaster –- Is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread

human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or

society to cope using its own resources. (UN/ISDR)

Resilience – Amount of change a system can undergo without changing state. (IPCC)

Vulnerability – The degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of

climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character,

magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and it’s adaptive

capacity. (IPCC)