NAIROBI – President William Ruto has created a State Department for Climate Change.
Through the Executive Order No1 of 2023, President Ruto established the department within the Ministry of Environment to “underline the government’s commitment to protecting Kenya from the adverse effects of global warming”.
The Ministry will also house the department for Forestry.
President Ruto has since taking power been vocal on climate change, and has been leading the government and other stakeholders in tree planting to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
His Madaraka Day speech was heavy on agriculture and climate change. Ruto said Kenya needs to increase its tree and forest cover to more than 30 per cent by 2032, as part of the national efforts to address the adverse effects of climate change.
Ruto also announced that he will appoint the Climate Change Council to lead Kenya’s climate action through stakeholder engagements coordinated withing the presidency.
“The programme also responds to Kenya’s commitments to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions articulated in various multilateral environmental agreements,” Ruto said.
In the new Executive Order, there is established the Office of the Council of Climate Change Adviser.
In his speech at CoP27 Summit in Egypt, President Ruto yhe spread, scale and frequency of disasters like hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires and heat waves, melting sea ice and glaciers, droughts and desertification, floods and rising sea levels, in numerous regions of all continents, indicate that humanity is confronting unprecedented devastation on a global scale.
President Ruto to lead Kenya’s participation in SDGs, climate change talks at UNGA77
