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Showing posts from November, 2010

Opening statement by Christiana Figueres at COP 16 / CMP 6

Opening statement by Christiana Figueres at COP 16 / CMP 6 November 30, 2010   Opening of the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) Cancún, 29 November 2010 Address by Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change His Excellency Felipe Calderón, President of the United Mexican States Mrs. Margarita Zavala His Excellency, Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico, His Excellency, Lykke Friis, Minister for Climate Change and Energy of the Kingdom, Denmark, His Excellency Juan Elvira, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) United Nations Dr. Mario Molina, President Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies on Energy and Environment Ms. Simona Gomez, Representative of Indigenous Community Tzetal, Mrs. Gloria Guevara, Secretary of Tourism Mr. Félix González Canto, Governor of Quintana Roo

A NEW DAWN FOR THE KENYAN YOUTHS

The realization of the importance of the youths as one of the stakeholders towards a developed nation by the government has laid a platform for the youths to engage in the governance of this country. On the 24th November 2010 Africa youth initiative on climate change Kenya represented by George Auko-the chief coordinator, Bildad-from REEN and Alphaxad Gitau-member together with youth leaders from all over the country had a meeting with the prime minister, other senior officials from the government and the private sector to deliberate on the way forward in the quest for the alternative leadership of this country. The question on “whether the youths are the resource that this country was missing or not” was given a strong affirmation that our country cannot develop unless we recognize that the youths are part of the stakeholders in this country. Therefore with the statistics from our last national census showing that the youths make up 78.5% of our population it is evident that the achi
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Youth Leadership Response to Climate Change - African Youth Initiative on Climate Change-Kenya Chapter By Margaret A. Demba Executive Summary In light of emerging challenges such as climate change, the most vulnerable globally are women and children. The youth make up a large portion of this group. This report highlights some of the challenges that the youth are facing with regard to environmental issues. It also focuses on the emerging leadership from the youth as they engage themselves in solving and tackling various challenges that face them. The report shows how a particular youth movement in Africa has proved successful locally and internationally in responding to climate change amidst emerging challenges. Background Information The World Bank Development Report 2008 (World Bank 2007) identifies 5 main factors through which climate change will affect agricultural productivity: changes in temperature, changes in precipitation, and changes in carbon dioxide levels, fertilization, in

CALL FOR SOBER REFLECTION ON THE CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE

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Richard Omondi, in one of the AYICC Kenya meetings The debate on global climate change has changed from better to worse and those championing green economy have received ceremonial embrace for their outstanding scientific contributions. The debate however remains to be as fictional as it was in the early 1990s. Increasingly, it seems like climate change belongs to what philophers call, the limit of science. Inspite of the failure of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to agree on global climate change on Mitigation and Adaptation frame work at the Copenhagen late last year, many carrier scientists are still hopeful that they will produce a conclusive evidence of global warming which they believe posses worst threat to humanity and other forms of life across the globe. In many African countries, high levels inter-ministerial committees have been formed to develop strategies for combating climate change. Big offices have also been created and None Governmental

AYICC-KENYA AT IT YET AGAIN!!! GEARING UP FOR THE ROADSHOW PHASE I ON 28th NOVEMBER

We as the Kenyan youth on 28th November are seeking to spend a day with Kenyan communities from some parts of the country in several ways of involvement: 1.Creating Climate solutions- Development and implementation of climate friendly projects with communities e.g. rain water harvesting, establishing grass plots, reforestation, visual aid. 2.Sharing Climate solutions - Interact with communities and learn their best practices and traditional ways that have helped to address climate change 3.Communicating Climate Solutions- Document and celebrate with communities their best practices on climate change, so that others can use these practices. The theme of the Roadshow, "driving a climate revolution in Kenya". Will take place as our November 2010 activity. This is the 1st phase of the Roadshow Concept and it is expected to be complete in other phases that will be bigger and even better. So watch out for the Roadshow poster and the programme of activities as well as more informa

KEY AYICC KENYA EVENTS IN 2010- AND MORE TO COME!

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 These are just some of the highlights from AYICC Kenya as we prepare to wrap up the year. The year started in January with a Social Day at the Ololua Forest and the Election of our Leaders, George Auko (Chief Coordinator), Winnie Asiti (Admin & Finance), & Joshua Minai (Programmes and Projects Coordinator). February 2010- George Auko, the Chief Coordinator AYICC Kenya, and Papa Omugataya, one of the climate change artists in our membership joined the rest of the Kenyans in a national tree planting day in Mau Forest. 22nd April 2010 was the Earth Day, and AYICC Kenya marked this through a half day workshop on Youth and Biodiversity. Panelists during the workshop included Paul Mbole, from the Norwegian Church Aid our supporters for the event, Joan Kagwanja from AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) and Dr. Mwaura from Univerisyt of Nairobi. Further to the Earth Day, we had a major clean up of the Nairobi River with University of Nairobi, Chiromo Environmental A

Kenya Youth Climate Network (KYCN) interview on NTV Kenya Breakfast show, 19th November 2010

The Kenya National Youth Climate Network (KYCN) on the 19th of November 2010, made a remarkable statement on Nation Television Network (NTV) breakfast show. Under the theme ‘Vijana going green’, a brief introduction was done to elucidate who the KYCN was made up of and what they have been doing in the past towards the environment. A wake up phone call at 4:30 am was made to the guys who were to make themselves available at Nation Media House at 6:30 am. As the few of the KYCN members tried to beat the heavy traffic in the morning, nearly all of us made it for the breakfast show on time. You could see the enthusiasm that Kito and Maithya had as they went into the news room. It was all written in their faces, “Youths can make a positive change in Kenya if given a chance.” With the first session commencing with heated discussions on why Yatta and no other place for the tree planting, it was evident that Isaiah Kipyegon a representative from the Norwegian Church Aid, had all points in hi

KUNEC SCOOPS THE MAZINGIRA QUIZ CHALLENGE 2010!!!

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This is an event organized by East African Wildlife Society & moderated by the Kenya forest Working Group and is the brain child of Miss university 2010/2011 from Maseno university .The event was mainly focused to bring together universities from all over Kenya to come together and compete with environmental awareness in mind. It was organized into two categories which include: PART ONE 1) Policies on wetlands, wildlife ,forestry and climate change 2) The New Constitution and relevant Acts 3) History of Kenya on all those areas covered above 4) Be conversant with any international conventions and treaties on all those areas 5) Latest changes of Forest cover in Kenya 6) Latest events, intrigues and controversies facing Kenya on those five areas of coverage 7) Be conversant with the current affairs of climate change in Kenya and the rest of the world 8) Have information about development and existence of wetlands in Kenya and the

BACK TO EDEN TREE PLANTING EVENT

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The Norwegian Church Aid and the Kenya Youth Climate Network (KYCN) in partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister are scheduled to have a tree planting event termed “Back to Eden” to be held on November 20th 2010 at the Mully Children Family (MCF) grounds in Yatta. KYCN is a youth movement comprised of youth organizations and networks, including Kenya Young Greens (KYG), Africa Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC-Kenya), Korogocho Community radio (Koch FM), Kama Si Sisi Artist Group, Young Environmentalists Network in Africa (YENA), the Third Movement, Inter-varsity Environmentalist Network (IVEN), World Youth Alliance (WYA) among others. The youth networks that formed KYCN have for the last five years mobilized, trained and supported youth from all over the country to learn and establish initiatives in their communities that tackle climate change, environment and leadership. So far, there have been three National Youth Conferences on Climate Change (NYCCC) held under

Kenya National Youth Conference on Climate Change 27th – 30th October, 2010

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The 3rd National Youth Conference on Climate Change was a huge success with immense support from the Office of the Prime Minister Kenya, Oxfam GB, the Norwegian Church Aid, the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change Kenya, private sector, civil society organizations, The Parliamentary Committee on Lands and Natural Resources and a large number of youth networks represented from all over the country. The conference attracted a total of 120 participants drawn from most parts of the country who camped from 27th – 30th October at the Multi Media University in Nairobi, Kenya. The participants were representative of the 47 counties of the country, and ensured that there was gender equality. We had the presence of the Mexican Embassy, United Nations Environment Programme and other UN Agencies, International Union for Conservation of Nature , Pan African Climate Justice Alliance , Oxfam GB, Norwegian Church Aid,  Ecological Society of Eastern Africa , Kenya Climate Change Working Gro

AYICC KENYA PRODUCES A RHODES SCHOLAR TO STUDY AT THE PRESTIGIOUS OXFORD UNIVERSITY

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Grace Mwaura, planting a tree during one of the many youth events she organizes  It is with humility and pride in our hearts that AYICC-Kenya presents one of our very own founding members Grace Mwaura, who has now been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at the Oxford University 2011. We are very proud of her and the achievements that she has had in the past and continues to have. More than that we are even more proud of the labour of love that she has put into building the network and that we all continue to put down to this day surely it is not in vain so take heart. For us as African youth we can only say that this is 100% African inspiration that only the best of the best can come out of us. That we ARE HERE. Finally we can say that it pays off to believe in something and to believe in others and in yourself as we celebrate this great achievement let us all take time to reflect on the efforts that we have put towards Leadership, Climate Change and Youth response and Sustainable Devel

VISIT TO WATOTO WEMA CHILDREN'S HOME- REACH OUT PROGRAMME!

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A photo from a previous ROP! In early 2010, AYICC Kenya launched the Reach Out Programme (ROP!) which aims at meeting the community needs in our own small ways. Its usually our way of giving back to the society and connecting with some of the emerging issue that require our attention. As planned, AYICC-Kenya, was visiting Watoto Wema Children's home on Sunday 14th November 2010.We were partnering in this with World Youth Alliance . The team met at the Hilton Hotel Bata Shoe Shop, a common meeting point in town, and proceeded to Kayole at around noon. You are all welcome let us join hands in giving back to the community. This programme is coordinated by Richard Omondi and  Winnie Asiti.

From Garissa…….with renewed purpose!

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Garissa is located in the so-called Northern frontier in Kenya ’s North Eastern Province , over 350 kms from Nairobi . An ASAL, Garissa is mostly inhabited by pastoralists of Somali descent. Straddled by incessant droughts and the resultant loss of livestock which is their economic mainstay leading to famine, climate change is a far away concept. In my foray to the area I just realized how much the locals know about climate change,how it is affecting them and how they want it addressed. They have very little knowledge about the climate change negotiation processes but nevertheless understand the issues facing them.They talk of flash floods which are alien to them and how they can no longer tell the weather patterns. There is also the issue of invasive species in the form of ‘mathenge’ ( Prosopis juliflora ) which has extensively covered the area. Mohammed Sahal, a youth leader with G-Youth (Garissa Youth) says that it has become intolerably hot nowadays, ‘My grandfather who was bor