Roundup: Kenya to enforce climate change rules
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E-mail Xinhua, August 31, 2012
Roundup: Kenya to enforce climate change rules
By David Musyoka
NAIROBI, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will start enforcing measures against activities that aggravate climate change as the country seeks to take a center stage in promoting environmental conservation in Africa.
The country has prepared a law that will also integrate issues of climate change into the national schooling curriculum to create more awareness and a pool of climate change champions at a younger age.
The enforcement measures are detailed in a new draft climate change law, The Climate Change Authority Bill, 2012 that is expected to be debated by the parliament in September.
The proposed law calls for hefty fines, of up to 13,000 U.S. dollars for persons who restrict officers enforcing climate change prevention measures access to premises for inspection.
The proposed law is expected to result into a greener economy, conforming to the Vision 2030 strategy to promote a green economy.
The draft law proposes formation of the Climate Change Authority that will coordinate activities tailored toward ensuring Kenya becomes one of the least carbon emitting countries in the world.
The authority will have the power of monitoring and investigation, including the power to enter the premises of any public or private entity and make an enquiry on adherence to requirements of the authority.
The authority will come up with programs on adaptation, mitigation, emission levels and trends, education and creation of awareness, including integration in the educational curricula, assessment of climate change vulnerability, climate change threats, capacity building in strategic climate sectors, research, development and technology transfer among others.
It will advise the national and county governments on measures necessary for mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.
It will also guide in the implementation of regional and international conventions to which Kenya is party to and report regularly on the country's adherence to its international obligations relating to climate change.
The new law, if passed, will increase Kenya's profile in its continental role on climate change. Last year, Kenya became the first country in the continent to start a carbon trading facility in Nairobi, the Africa Carbon Exchange.
The exchange is like a stock market for environment assets, where buyers bid for and buy carbon credit certificates on offer.
"What the exchange does is to enable people earn dividends from using cleaner energy and environmental conservation. It is a big opportunity for this country," said Job Kihumba, the chairman of the exchange in an earlier interview.
Kenya has also been implementing a deliberate policy to upscale investments in clean energy, principally geothermal power and wind. For instance, KenGen, a partially state-owned company has already earned carbon credits from its investments in geothermal resource.
The government has released feed-in tariffs for renewable energy to encourage the private sector to participate in the renewable energy generation.
The government also launched a greening program, carried out throughout primary schools in Kenya in a bid to leverage the large pool of students and cheaper labor in reforestation efforts. Enditem
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