Key climate change conference kicks off in Nairobi
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A two-day climate change conference kicked off in Nairobi on Wednesday with Kenya saying it has embarked on rapid development of renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions known to cause global warming resulting in climate change.
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga urged the developed economies to help developing nations to mitigate the effects of climate change. He said Kenya's forest cover has reduced from 12 percent to 1.7 percent in 40 years.
However, Odinga said plans are underway to restore it to 10 percent within the next ten years through planting of 7.6 billion trees around the country.
"We have embarked on ambitious reforestation programs. We are requiring by law that tea plantation and other farm owners must plant trees in at least 10 percent of the land they own," he said.
"An aggressive campaign to restore our water towers has also been launched and will involves relocation of hundreds of thousands of people from forests to other areas."
Odinga told a conference on climate change in Nairobi, which hopes to help create enhanced awareness of the challenge ahead of the Copenhagen Conference, that through acts of unbridled greed, irresponsibility, mismanagement of public resources and a severe lack of civic responsibility, the country lost most of its forest cover and water towers to human encroachment and illegal logging.
The meeting also seeks to create increased understanding of the impacts climate change and the climate change negotiating process will have on Kenya and its people.
The prime minister, who will lead the Kenyan delegation to Copenhagen Climate Change Conference next month, said Africa was paying the prize for climate change yet the continent contributes less than three percent of the global Green House Gases, an act he described as a tragedy.
"I do not mean that Africa should compete to emit more. Neither do I want to assign blame. These are not options in this crisis. But as we head to Copenhagen in December, it should be clear to all that we are embarking on a long and difficult journey from which no one should disembark half way.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden said as an expression of its commitment to find sustainable solutions to the climate crisis, the Swedish government launched the international Commission on Climate Change and Development two years ago.
"As you know, the Swedish Presidency of the European Union has put climate change at the top of its agenda and is making every effort to facilitate a successful outcome," she said.
"Developing countries, especially those that are more advanced must also present clear plans for action that reflect their responsibility and ability and which lead to substantial emission reductions compared to business as usual and make them part of the Copenhagen agreement," said the Royalty who is the eldest child of King Carl Gustav XVI and Queen Silvia.
Climate change has impacted on every country, but Kenya is especially vulnerable where the variations have already led to irregular weather patterns and extreme incidents of rain and drought.
Odinga said scientific evidence shows that the ice caps in Greenland are melting, there is sufficient evidence that the ice caps on Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya will soon disappear, already Mount Kilimanjaro has lost 80 percent of its ice between 1912 and 2000, this is a serious challenge.
Odinga called on the international community to develop a marshal plan that will give developing economies the requisite funds to invest in green energy production technologies in their respective countries.
He said Kenya is going to Copenhagen with a clear strategy on what the international community should do for Africa and Kenya in order to mitigate the serious effects of the global challenge.
"We need to have clear ways of tapping rainwater, to deal with severe flooding and droughts and to ensure that the challenges of increased vector borne diseases on account of rising temperatures in the once cold highlands is tamed," said Odinga.
