Africa wants Ksh.12 trillion annual climate finance pledge fulfilled – Experts

According to the experts, adequate financing is a very integral part of mitigating the harsh effects climate change and has however never been fully remitted for a 5-year period now.

An agreement to fund African countries Ksh.12.175 trillion ($100B) annually for combating climate change was made during the COP21 summit in 2015 where funds were expected to come from developed nations.

Agriculture & Climate Change expert Dr Kinyanjui Koimbori has however noted that there has been no goodwill to fulfill the obligation as the expected threshold has never been met.

He has recommended that policies should be reviewed to seal the loopholes maiming the implementation of the donation initiatives.

"The issue of climate financing has been something of a big contention especially when you look at the $100 Billion that was supposed to be within the Green Climate Fund so that they pay African Nations, It has not been coming to fruition, the money has not been coming in because it is one way of paying us," he said.

Dr Kiombori was speaking on Citizen TV's Daybreak show on Wednesday where he added that the developed nations owe Africa for mutilating the continent in search of resources.

"They are telling us to move away from fossil fuel, stop using coal and the rest and remember these nations developed using coal so we are telling them if they don't want us to use coal, please pay us for the spaces you destroyed through pollution all over these years," he added.

Appearing in the same interview, Red Cross programme officer Esther Muiruri noted that the developed nations have reneged on the commitment they made about the contributions.

She said that there should even be an increment in the donations given the spike in affected countries, a situation that was absent when the deal was being made.

"Clearly we can see the cost of inaction and what we are seeing today is a culmination of several factors which have led to these adverse effects of climate change," she said.

"It's more about the commitment because even for the $100 billion there should be a commitment to increasing that and not necessarily saying the goal is too high. In the COP26, an analysis was done to determine whether the wealthy nations are actually able to meet the donations," she added.

Financing has dominated discussions in this year's COP summit with most nations calling for commitment and support against global warming.

President William Ruto, who is also the coordinator of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), called on partners to rise up to the occasion and help African countries mitigate the ravaging drought.

"I call on every delegate here today to rise to the challenge of this moment, to make difficult but necessary decisions and seize transformative opportunity from the grasp of climate disaster. This means honoring spending commitments for mitigation and adaptation, and mobilizing increased financial flows to those affected, especially in Africa," he said while delivering his speech on Monday.

Kenya is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years; Two consecutive years without adequate rain.

This has led to 2.5 million livestock dying and 4.3 million people affected in 2022 alone causing economic losses of more than Ksh.182.6 billion ($1.5 billion)