Tana River County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. The County has embarked on the enactment of key policies and legal framework on climate change. Mainstreaming of climate change into the County plans including the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), Annual Development Plan (ADP), Sectoral Plans etc. was also done to build community resilience against the impact of climate change at the same time implementing the mitigation measures. Here are the key policies, legal, regulations and plans in the County:

  1. The Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021
  2. The Tana River County Climate Change Fund Regulations 2023
  3. The Tana County Participatory Climate Risk Assessment Report 2023
  4. The Tana River County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027
  5. The Tana River County Climate Change Finance Policy 2023
  6. The Tana River County Disaster Risk Management Act 2020
  7. The Draft Tana River County Climate Change Policy 2023

Status of Implementation

  1. Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021

The County has enacted The Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021 into law after the bill has been approved by the County Assembly of Tana River and subsequently accented into Act on 6th August 2021 by His Excellency The Governor Dr. Major (Rtd) Dhadho Gadae Godhana. The Act was published by The Kenya Gazette on 1st November 2021. The purpose of this Act is to enhance climate resilience through development, management, implementation, regulation and monitoring of adaptation and mitigation measures and actions. This Act had come into effect in November 2021 and its operationalization is ongoing. This act is in line with The Climate Change Act 2016 and intends to build on the efforts done by National Government on adaptation and mitigation measures on climate change. On the status of implementation of the act, the County has started establishing key structures. The act has three (3) committees including;

  1. County Climate Change Steering Committee

Section 5 of the Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021 established County Climate Change Steering Committee.

Section 7(1) states that the Steering Committee shall comprise of 11 members who shall be appointed to the committee by the Governor.

In a letter dated 17th May 2023 the Governor His Excellency Dr. Major (Rtd) Dhadho Gadae Godhana nominated the members of the steering committee by forwarding the names to County Assembly of Tana River. Subsequently, the steering committee was approved by the House on 9th August 2023. The committee was launched by H.E. The Governor in a ceremony held at County Headquarters on 12th August 2023.

  1. County Climate Change Planning Committee

Section 15 of the Act established the County climate Change Planning Committee, which shall comprise of 10 members appointed to the Committee by the County Executive Committee Member for the time being in-charge of climate change matters.

In a letter dated 18th May 2023 CECM Environment and Climate Change nominated members of planning committee by forwarding the names to the County Assembly of Tana River. Subsequently, the planning committee was approved by the House on 1st August 2023. The committee was launched by H.E. The Governor in a ceremony held at County Headquarters on 12th August 2023.

  1. Ward Climate Change Planning Committees

Section 23 of the Act state that Ward Climate Change Planning Committees shall be established in all the 15 wards of the County. The process of the nominations of ward committees is spearheaded by Ward Administrator in the presence of Sub-County Administrator or his representative at ward offices {Section 25(2)(3)(4)(5)}. After nomination process, the Ward Administrator shall submit the names of ward committee members to County Chief Officer for formal appointment.  The committee comprises of 8 members including seven community members of different interest groups (youth, elders, persons living with disability and community-based organization).

These committees have been established in all the wards and formal appointment was done by the County Chief Officer for Environment and Climate Change effective 1st November 2022.

  1. Fund Administrator

Section 46(2) states that the Fund Administrator is appointed by the CECM for Finance in consultation with the CECM for Climate Change. The Fund Administrator will sit in both County Steering and County Climate Change Planning Committees as an ex-officio  member (with no voting rights) to provide updates on the financial status of the County Climate Change Fund.

The Fund Administrator was appointed on 14th February 2023 by CECM Finance and Economic Planning.

Establishment of County Climate Change Fund (CCCF)

Section 46(1) of the Act calls for the establishment of the County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) to provide funding for priority climate change actions and interventions identified by communities and other stakeholders and approved by the Steering Committee. The county has committed in this Act (Section 47(a)) to allocate not less than 2% of the county development budget to this fund. The County has actualized this promise by allocating KES 50,000,000.00 in this Financial Year (2022/2023) to the development vote head of the CCCF. For the Financial Year 2023/2024 the County has allocated another 50,000,000 for this fund. The County has opened Special Purpose Account (SPA) with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) as per Public Finance Management Act 2015 in the management and administration of public funds.

  • The Tana River County Climate Change Fund Regulations 2023

Section 48(1) of the Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021 states that the County Executive Committee member in-charge of Finance shall, in consultation with the County Executive Committee Member Environment and Climate Change, develop Regulations for administration and management of the Fund.

The Fund Regulations was approved by the County Assembly on 30th May 2023.

  • Participatory Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) Report February 2023

The County did the Participatory Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) assessing the exposure to climate hazards & risks and social vulnerability to climate change. This process started with the stakeholders meeting on 12th January 2023 in Hola where we formed the cross-sectoral technical working group. The technical working group was later trained for one week before data collection was done in each of the 15 wards of the county from 30th January 2023 to 4th February 2023. The Ward PCRA reports was developed for each ward which was later collapsed into one county PCRA reports. The County PCRA report was subjected to a validation process at a multistakeholder workshop in Hola.

As per the report, the main climatic hazards which the residents of Tana River are vulnerable to are:

  1. Drought affecting all the wards in the County
  2. Floods affecting wards such as Chewele, Madogo, Chewani, Mikinduni, Garsen North, Garsen West, Garsen Central, Garsen South, Kipini East etc.
  3. Invasive species affecting all the wards in the County
  4. Conflicts (human-wildlife conflicts, nature-based conflicts etc.)
  5. Pest and Diseases
  6. Sea Water Intrusion in Kipini West and Kipini East Wards

The County formulated the County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 to tackle these hazards. 

  • County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027

Section 32(1) of the Act state that there shall be a County Climate Change Action Plan (CCCAP) 2023-2027 to run concurrently with the National Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 and third generation County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) 2023-2027. During our engagement with the FLLoCA program we were made aware that the county MUST do Participatory Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) before CCCAP. In this regard, the County has first done the PCRA assessment in all wards in February 2023 and formulated CCCAP 2023-2027 in May 2023. The plan was validated by community and stakeholders on 23rd May 2023 in all the sub-counties and was approved by County Executive Committee (County Cabinet) on 26th May 2023. The Plan was later forwarded by CECM Environment and Climate Change to County Assembly in a letter dated 29th May 2023 for adoption. The Plan was approved by the House on 9th August 2023 and later launched by His Excellency the Governor on 12th August 2023.  

The Action Plan has six chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Action Plan formulation process

Chapter 3: Review of Relevant Policies and Legal Frameworks

Chapter 4: Vulnerability to climate related hazards in Tana River County

Chapter 5: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Plan

Chapter 6: Plan Monitoring and Review

The main chapter is the chapter 5 which focuses on adaptation and mitigation plans. Under this chapter we have 8 strategic areas which is prioritized in the next five years. These are:

  1. Food and Nutrition Security
  2. Water Security and Blue Economy
  3. Ecosystem conservation and sustainable land management
  4. Climate proof infrastructure, green energy production and use
  5. Sanitation, Health and human settlements
  6. Knowledge Management and Capacity building of community, stakeholders and county officials
  7. Sustainable financing for climate actions
  8. Governance and coordination of climate change adaptation and mitigation plan

As per the County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027, the County needs to mobilize KES 3.85 billion in the next 5 years to actualize these 8 strategic objectives. Out of this, the County can raise KES 250 million in five years from its allocation to CCCF and KES 445.5 million from FLLoCA grants in three years. This will leave the county with a gap of about KES 3.1 billion in five years. We call upon our partners and other well-wishers to bridge this gap for us.

  • The Tana River County Climate Change Finance Policy 2023

This policy was adopted by County Assembly on 14th March 2023. Some of the strategic interventions has been implemented while implementing the Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021. This includes;

  1. Establishment of County Climate Change Fund (CCCF)
  2. Establish the Tana River County Climate Change Fund Regulations for administration and management of the Fund as per the section 48(1) of the Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021
  3. Carried out the County Level Participatory Climate Risk Assessment (PCRA) assessing the exposure to climate hazards & risks and social vulnerability to climate change.
  4. Formulation of the County Climate Change Action Plan (CCCAP) as per the section 32 of the Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021
  5. Establishment of the County Directorate of Climate Change. The Directorate was established through an Executive Order Number 1 of the Governor dated 11th October 2022.

The County will continue implementation of this policy and the Act to realize enhanced climate resilience through development, management, implementation, regulation and monitoring of adaptation and mitigation measures and actions.

  • The Tana River County Disaster Risk Management Act 2020

This Act was passed and implemented before the climate change act. Section 4 of the act establishes Disaster Risk Management Committees while section 9 county disaster risk management plan which will run for 5 years is entrenched. To implement this plan the act also under section 18 established Disaster Risk Management Fund.

  • The Draft Tana River County Climate Change Policy 2023

This policy was ought to have been the first policy formulated for climate change. However, this was not done as the Act, Fund Regulations, Climate Finance Policy and Action Plan all presided it. The County has now started the process of formulating this policy. The department of Environment and Climate Change developed the first draft which was reviewed by the technical team drawn from the different departments, agencies and non-state actors. Next step is now the public participation forums at sub county level (with representation from each ward), then cabinet approval and county assembly adoption.

Other policies and plans

  1. The Tana River County Forest Policy 2023
  2. The Solid Waste Management Act 2022
  3. The Tana River County Forest and Landscape Restoration Action Plan 2021-2030 (FOLAREP)
  4. The Draft Environment Policy

Acknowledgement

During the policy/acts/plans formulation and development the county was supported by different partners. We wish to acknowledge and thank them. For instance:

  1. Nature Kenya supported the county during the development of Tana River County Climate Change Act 2021, The PCRA Report, The DRM Act, The County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 (CCCAP), The County Forest Policy, The FOLAREP etc.
  2. World Food Program (WFP) supported us in PCRA and CCCAP
  3. GIZ supported us to develop the Tana River County Climate Finance Policy and now the County Climate Change Policy
  4. CISP supported us in PCRA report and CCCAP
  5. Welthungerhilfe (WHH) supported us in the Environment Policy
  6. The Wetlands International supported us in the County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027