Towards a Common Vision of Climate Security in KENYA - November 2022

The workshop, organized as part of the CGIAR´s initiative Building Systemic Resilience against Climate Extremes and Variability (ClimBeR) and co-hosted by the Government of Kenya, the African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES) and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), brought together over 40 experts and practitioners working across the humanitarian, development and peace se. [...] This reinforcing feedback loop can potentially trap societies in a “vicious circle” of increased vulnerability and fragility, whereby the presence of conflict and insecurity further undermines their capacity to adapt and cope with the effects of climate extremes and variability, while the impact of climate worsens the underlying drivers of conflict. [...] The decreased availability of natural resources, the deterioration of pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods, and the effects of extreme climatic events can combine to limit and shape the dynamics of pastoral mobility, an important consideration when discussing the impact of climate on a specific, pre-existing pastoral mobility pattern. [...] Towards a Common Vision of Climate Security in KENYA 19 • Increased mistrust in government A lower availability of natural resources, the weakening of livelihoods, increased food insecurity and conditions of poverty and marginalization – all direct and indirect impacts of climate variability and extremes – are thought to contribute towards a widespread feeling of mistrust over government authoriti. [...] The lack of state presence, low provision of public services, exclusionary and discriminatory policies, corruption and misuse of public funds, and peace- and resilience-building interventions which lead to the unintended incitement of conflict were all cited as factors undermining the legitimacy of government as keeper of the peace in Kenya’s ASALs regions.