Mainstream climate change adaptation in the environment sector.

BY LUKE KAPCHANGA

Kenya’s environment underpins livelihoods, health, ecosystem services, cultural heritage, tourism, wildlife habitats and more. It is also where many impacts of climate change are first registered, often as shifts in precipitation and temperature lead to changes in resource availability, occurrence and impact of disasters, or the valuable services ecosystem provide.

 Variable, widespread climate impacts threaten ecosystems and wildlife across the country with cascading economic and social impactsBungoma county   role in setting or and developing policy priorities,  plays a significant role in policy implementation and in monitoring.

This puts it in a unique place to observe at first hand where inconsistencies and incoherent approaches  of policies for sustainable development goals and targets Local Level Governance in the context of the SDGs

As the level of government closest to the people, local and regional governments are uniquely placed to identify and respond to development needs and gaps, hence the need to “localise the Post-2015 Development Agenda”. Specifically, this refers to the process of

defining, implementing and monitoring strategies at the local level for achieving global, national and sub-national sustainable development goals and targets. This involves concrete mechanisms, tools, innovations, platforms and processes to effectively translate

the development agenda into action at the local level (UNDP et al., 2014). The aim should be to strengthen coordination, maximise flexibility in the local management of programmes, preserve efficiency in service delivery, ensure accountability for the use of resources invested, and promote participation from businesses and civil society (OECD, 2005). 

The report Localizing the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Dialogues on Implementation (UNEP, 2014) is the result of a multi-stakeholder dialogue process carried out in 2014. The main recommendations include:raise more revenue locally.

● Promote a bottom-up approach to ensure ownership of the Post-20 Development Agenda at the local level.

● National planning institutions should align and embed the global development agenda into national and local development plans, and foster linkages and partnerships with  other actors to harmonise local development activities and avoid duplications and promote effectiveness.

● National governments and the international development community should recognize that local governments are best placed to convene local-level stakeholders, e.g. civil society, the private sector, and academia.

● Governments at all levels must be held accountable for responding to social inclusion and human security challenges.

● National governments and development partners should scale scale-up, replicate and adapt at the national and international levels.

● Decentralised development co-operation should be acknowledged and used as a modality to support the implementation of the SDGs at local level.

● Strengthen the capacities of national, regional and international associations of local governments to participate in global dialogues.

● Promote transparency and wider access to data and information to local governments through ICTs.

● SDG 11 to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” can help to mobilise local authorities and stakeholders and to focus the attention on the potential of urbanisation as a key driver for sustainable development. 

.As noted by one of the experts, Prof. Sharon S. Dawes, during the meeting, “The key challenges we face in policy integration for sustainable development are to develop the capability and legitimacy of governments to engage in policy development, grounded in citizen and stakeholder engagement; to develop better models and tools for understanding complexity by citizens, not just expert modellers, and, to better connect research and practice through rich connectivity among expert communities and the public”. Therefore, while knowledge networks, epistemic communities and analytical tools are critical, legitimacy and actual success will come from the broad political support.

A major area of focus for policy integration is the linkage between national and sub-national policies. This linkage is very complex. At the same time, as also noted during the same meeting, local governments are often better positioned to have a more coherent and integrated approach, see trade-offs and promote synergies. Issues that are often covered by multiple instances at central level are often handled by fewer representatives at local level, and benefit from closer collaboration and overlaps in responsibilities of local staff. Sub-national level is all the more important as this is where a lot of SDG implementation will be taking place.

 

 

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