Humanising the fight against climate change

Group CEO Amref Health Africa Dr Githinji Gitahi in an interview with KTN News. [Dennis Aseto, Standard]

Climate change is not only about carbon but the entire ecosystem surrounding this important task.

For the fight against climate change to make sense, it should just be packaged and given a human face because all that is being talked about is meant to improve human life.

Group CEO Amref Health Africa Dr Githinji Gitahi in an interview with Dennis Aseto says although Cop 27 had conversations touching on carbon, it didn't address issues that directly go towards improving life.

Gitahi argues to change this, lobbying that has happened, has seen Cop 28 dedicate a day to discuss issues that give the climate talks a human face.

Below is the question and answer interview;

How has climate change affected nutrition in Kenya?

The first 1000 days are the most important period for children. Kenya has a nutrition problem, something that, as a country, we must invest in and take it as a national agenda. Kenya has an 18 per cent national average of stunting cases, with counties worst hit by drought recording increased cases of stunting. To change this worrying trajectory, the government must be at the forefront of the fight against climate change, which continues to be held by policymakers and in conferences.

How do we make this conversation inclusive?

For the fight against climate change to make sense, it should just be packaged and given a human face because all that is being talked about is meant to improve human life. Though Cop 27 had conversations touching on carbon, it didn't address issues that directly go towards improving life. To change this, lobbying that has happened, has seen Cop 28 dedicate a day to discuss issues that give the climate talks a human face. Climate change is not only about carbon but the entire ecosystem surrounding this important task. The talks surrounding Cop 28 must look at how we protect our forests, increase food production, and put in place measures that will help fight diseases that crop up due to climate change.

President William Ruto is big on restoration of forest Cover but that as it may, few Kenyans understand the whole concept. How do we debunk this?

Kenya' s forest cover has continued to improve even though we note that we have a long way to go. President Willliam Ruto says that he wants to grow 15 billion trees by 2032. However, this is a challenge because Kenyans don't understand the whole system around the tree-planting agenda and carbon credits.

For farmers not to grow trees for the purposes of logging, there has to be a conversation around just transition where tough decisions over who is paying for it must be had for it to make sense since it's difficult for someone to plant trees and not see the economic benefit of the product he/she can have from the same.

Several African countries, through their exploration activities, have just struck oil and are going ahead to drill the same as they continue to develop their economies. How do we convince them to go green?

Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda just to mention a few, are exploring what is buried deep, and with the striking of black gold, many governments have gone full throttle to drill because of the profits and the future they can create for their people based on existing evidence.

The UAE has been solely built on the profits they've made from their black Gold and it would be a bad joke to imagine that Africa will not want to reap from every litre that is buried underneath.

On the flip side though, the world's ecosystem has been destroyed by fossil fuels. Fossil fuels fuel climate change and lack of it directly improves our climate but how can the global West who have benefitted from fossil fuels therefore be the ones to convince African democracies that they should not mine and drill? That is the elephant in the room.

There needs to be funding but adequate funding from those that emit the most to shoulder the burden. A new way of dealing with climate issues should be put in place such that emissions are taxed in the sense that those that emit the most are taxed based on how much they emit.

With the changing climate, new diseases will be experienced. How do we prepare for the inevitable?

A WHO report shows that climate-related emergencies continue to rise and governments around the world must be prepared for them. Kenya is not prepared for health emergencies as the government continues to operate in a similar manner to before the advent of Covid-19. We must have early warning systems and the ministries of Health and Agriculture and the meteorological department should work together. As Amref, we are at the forefront of leading the entire conversation on health and nutrition and call on the government and policymakers to fold their sleeves, pull up their socks and see to it that this conversation does not only end at the policy level, and international conferences but that it must have a human face, broken down for the mwananchi.