The continuing losses of livelihoods among the pastoralist groups in East and the horn of Africa call for innovative climate finance solutions that could help them recover and rebound from the disaster they currently live with, advocacy, campaigns, and communication led by the African Coalition of Communities Responsive to Climate Change (ACCRCC) has said.
Speaking while addressing a community meeting in Turkana County on Friday, Mr. Henry Lari noted that while pastoralists are losing hundreds and thousands of heads of livestock, there is no existing mechanism within our governments nor at the African Union where they could get compensated.
“While African civil society groups are clamoring for loss and damage, there exist pockets of what could be called climate funds around Africa. Even the other day, the African Development Bank received close to 4 million dollars from Ireland and Austria in support of its Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF). But is AfDB innovative enough to disburse support to grassroots communities affected by climate crisis?” Asked Mr. Lari.
Mr. Emmanuel Tika of the ACCRCC lamented the lack of a grassroots mechanism through which communities could claim for compensation when they lose livestock or crops.
“So far, the governments have not come out with ways of documenting livestock losses, neither do crop farmers have anyone visiting them to record the crop failures as a result of a failure of rainfall. While governments get taxes from farmers for farm input, losses are borne by individual farmers. This is disheartening and needs to be addressed,” said Tika.
Micheal Ebenyo, a resident called for national and local authorities to establish mechanisms where communities could be recording and documenting losses. This, he said will help when the finally the west decides to establish compensation for losses and damages due to climate change.
Kenya is in its worst drought situation in years at the moment. Every passing day, residents in 23 out of 47 Counties most affected by drought report of deaths of hundreds of livestock.
Ebenyo’s neighborhood no longer has food and has to depend on food relief from well-wishers.
The meeting in Lokichar brought together communities from the grassroots, the faiths, the ACCRCC, and representations from the local authorities.
