Plans needed to ease pain of climate change
Starting Monday and for the next 11 days, leaders from across the globe will be meeting in Paris, France, to debate plans of action to respond to the challenges posed by global warming. Already, melting polar ice caps are posing a threat to coastal communities as sea levels rise. The Kenyan coast is not exempt from this threat. Deforestation, which remains a major threat to the ecosystem in Kenya, continues to compound the challenges of climate change, including flooding and its consequences on farmers and poor rural families. Unless checked, these could worsen the gap between the rich and the poor, setting the stage for social unrest. During his visit to the UN Environmental Programme headquarters in Nairobi last week, Pope Francis said that what is needed to address the challenges posed by climate change effectively “is sincere and open dialogue, with responsible cooperation on the part of all”. This is the spirit with which global leaders should approach the talks to ensure that they agree on tangible action plans to save the planet for posterity. Climate change, as has been ably demonstrated by past studies, has a direct impact on food security, availability of water and, by extension, has far-reaching health implications, especially for developing nations such as Kenya. This underlines the need for leaders to go beyond platitudes and agree on what needs to be done and a timetable on when these goals should be met. That way, they can do more for humanity and for the planet by ensuring that their citizens are shielded from the adverse effects of extreme weather such as hunger, disease, and the subsequent poverty that these cause among vulnerable populations.