Vihiga to implement climate change law

 

Vihiga county is seeking to allocate two per cent of its development budget to the Climate Change Fund.

This will be achieved through implementing the Climate Change Fund Act, 2019.

The fund has the objective of strengthening the coping mechanisms of communities against the adverse impacts of climate change.

Environment chief officer Richard Boiyo said the governance structures established by the Act will lead to strengthened adaptations of both the ward and at county levels as well as foster regional cooperation on matters climate change by the counties within the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB). 

Boiyo spoke to Star on the phone at the weekend after attending a climate change consultative meeting in Kisumu. The meeting brought together stakeholders from LREB counties and non-state actors. 

The official further observed that the establishment of the Climate Change Fund will lead to increased opportunities for donor funding for local climate change adaptation interventions. 

“The most effects we face in this climate change is flooding, landslides, drought, less predictable rains across the counties and that's why we are brainstorming on the way forward,” he said.

The 14 counties that form the Lake Region Economic Bloc include all Nyanza and Western counties and four counties from Rift Valley - Bomet, Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Kericho.