FEBRUARY 2022

THE EAST AFRICAN SUSWATCH E-BULLETIN

A Monthly from the East African Sustainability Watch Network founded by Uganda Coalition for Sustainable
Development (UCSD), Tanzania Coalition for Sustainable Development (TCSD) and SusWatch Kenya

SusWatch Kenya Joins ICLEI Africa to Co-facilitate the Kisumu County

Government’s 100% Renewable Energy Community Visioning Hybrid Workshop

The County Government of Kisumu in Kenya is in the process of

developing a Road map towards the 100% Renewable Energy transition
by 2050. Two other Counties that have been selected for support i.e.
Nakuru and Mombasa. Of the three Counties, the County Government of
Kisumu is the deep dive/pilot County while the County Governments of
Participants at the workshop for
Mombasa and Nakuru are the network Counties. Hence, a workshop that
Kisumu’s transition to 100% RE brought together over 30 key stakeholder groups from national and local
(Photo: SusWatch Kenya) government, communities and local NGOs was to understand local needs
and integrate them into the process of developing a shared vision for Kisumu’s transition to 100% Renewable
Energy was organized by ICLEI Africa team and co-facilitated by Mr. Justus Munyoki of SusWatch Kenya, from
February 10 to 11, 2022. More than a yeat ago, SusWatch Kenya launched a Plan for 100% Renewable Energy
Scenario in Kenya by 2050, that is available at: https://bit.ly/35hrQmY

The Kisumu training workshop was supported by ICLEI’s 100% Renewables Cities & Regions Roadmap (100%
RE) project. This is a global initiative supporting Governments at a national and local level to promote the shift
towards 100% renewable energy strategies in Kenya, Indonesia and Argentina.

The County Government of Kisumu has set their own targets in addition to the international and national ones.
For example, the vision statement for the County Government is: “To achieve universal access to reliable and
affordable 100% RE for sustainable development in Kisumu County by 2050”. Here, improving access to energy
while prioritizing low carbon development is imperative. Kisumu depends much on biomass and hydropower
sources as the major sources of energy. The second Kisumu County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) is the
County’s development blueprint that outlines the programmes and projects which Kisumu County intends to
implement during the five-year period starting 2018 to 2022. It decries the high cost and unreliable hydro-electric
power and the inadequate technology for alternative power sources.

Hence, the Kisumu CIDP suggested among others to undertake development of renewable energy including:
hydropower energy, biomass, solar energy , mini-hydro , wind , use of agro-waste and municipal waste; as well as
promoting use of other alternative sources of energy. The Plan also seeks to promote and facilitate the use of
renewable energy technologies; formulate an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), as a platform for the development
of alternative energy generation; and to promote access and utilization of solar energy technologies

Kisumu City’s transition to 100% Renewable Energy is in line with Kenya’s 2018 -22 National Climate Change
Action Plan (NCCAP) whose priority actions under the energy sector include increasing renewable energy
generation in a climate resilient manner; increasing generative capacity for captive renewable energy; improving
energy efficiency and conservation; climate proofing energy infrastructure; transitioning to clean cooking with
alternative fuels (such as LGP and ethanol); and promoting uptake of clean biomass, cook stoves, briquettes, and
other clean cooking alternatives. The focus of climate action in the transport sector is the establishment of
efficient, sustainable, world class transport systems.

Read more about the second Kisumu County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP):
https://www.kisumu.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Kisumu-County-CIDP-II-2018-2022.pdf
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 CSOs and Youth Activists Trained on Uganda’s New Climate Law
On February 22, 2022, Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development, JEEP (as
members of INFORSE East Africa) through the East African Civil Society for
Sustainable Energy and Climate Action (EASE CA) Project, organized training
on Uganda’s recently enacted Climate and Environmental laws. It was attended
by 20 Coalition members and youth activists and was facilitated by Mr. Hussein
Kato Muyinda from Earth and Rights Initiative and Mr. Turyakira Robert from
Participants at the training
Environmental Shield and was held at JEEP Folkecenter (Kyanja – Kampala).
workshop Photo (Photo: UCSD)

The objective of the training was to flag out the key sections / clauses in the Uganda Climate Law (2021) that are
of interest for CSO endeavors to push for climate action at national and global levels. It also sought to highlight
salient sections of the National Environment Act (2019) that CSOs can make use to promote climate action in
Uganda and beyond.

Uganda’s Climate Change Act (2021) governs Uganda's national response to climate change. One of the stated
purposes of the Act is to give effect to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol,
and the Paris Agreement and Section 4 gives these agreements the force of law in Uganda. Among others, the Act
mandates the creation of a Framework Strategy on Climate Change, as well as a National Climate Action Plan and
District Climate Action Plans. It also contains a series of provisions establishing a transparency framework and
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system; Section 9 of the Act permits the Minister responsible for
Climate Change matters to develop further regulations regarding participation in climate change mechanisms such
as Emissions Trading Mechanisms, and Section 23 allows the Minister to make further regulations regarding the
responsibilities of private entities; Part V of the Act relates to the institutional arrangements for governing climate
change, creating a National Climate Change Advisory Committee to provide independent technical advice and
clarifying the responsibilities of District and local governments with respect to climate change; Article 26
concerns climate change litigation, with broad provisions on standing to bring cases before the High Court against
the Government, an individual, or private entity "whose action or omission threatens or is likely to threaten efforts
towards adaptation to or mitigation of climate change".

In addition, Uganda has taken a bold and long overdue step to revamp its 24-year old environmental law, the
National Environment Act (1995). An amendment was necessary given the massive infrastructure projects in the
energy sector, the planned infrastructure of a refinery and pipelines in the oil and gas space, the imminent
production of oil, increasing urbanization and the consequent pressures on land, and climate change. The
National Environment Act (NEA, 2019) establishes a specialized unit, the Environmental Protection Force, to
handle enforcement. The NEA (2019) creates new offences and greatly enhances the penalties both in monetary
fines and custodial sentences.

Mr. Hussein Muyinda highlighted Section 4 of the National Environmental Act (2019) on the Rights to Nature
which now recognizes that nature has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure,
functions and its processes in evolution. ‘In this regard, a person has the right to bring action before a competent
court for any infringement of rights of nature under this Act, he underscored.

Mr. Turyakira highlighted the increased role of NGOs as environmental defenders within context of a shrinking
civic space but increased environmental decay across the country. ‘The Climate Law (2021) gives full force to
implementation of Uganda’s obligations under the UNFCCC,’ he pointed out. He further noted that the Law
orders District Natural Resources Committees to integrate climate change matters within development plans,
projects and budgets before approval by the respective Councils. Failure to do so means they can be taken to a
competent court to provide answers.

Read more about Uganda’s Climate Act (2021): https://climate-laws.org/geographies/uganda/laws/national-

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climate-change-act-2021 & the National Environment Act (2019): https://www.nema.go.ug/projects/national-

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environment-act-2019
 Break the Bias, Support Women’s Leadership in Climate Action in East Africa
The International theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2022 is,
“Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” recognizing the contribution
of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate
change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future
for all among other tasks. The theme calls for a world free of bias, stereotypes,
and discrimination, that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive, where difference is
valued and celebrated so that together we can forge women's equality to Break
Ms Susan Wamala – Mukono the Bias (hence the hashtag: #BreakTheBias by global campaigners)
Boarding Primary School (centre)
Biasness - the inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group,
joins an Environment and Climate
radio talk show panel at CBS FM especially in a way considered to be unfair is faced by the world’s poorest and
88.8 (Uganda) (photo: M. those in vulnerable situations, including women. This has been exacerbated by
Semakula) global challenges like the COVID19 pandemic and climate change impacts.
As a result of these challenges, women and girls bear the brunt of the resulting effects, as they are often the last to
eat or be rescued. They face greater health and safety risks as water and sanitation systems become compromised,
and take on increased domestic and care work as resources dwindle.

But as UN Women in 2019 noted, ‘women and girls are early adopters of new agricultural techniques, first
responders when disaster strikes and important decision-makers at home about energy and waste’. As climate
action cannot be successful or sustainable if it does not involve women, supporting women leadership in this
quest should start at this level. We are talking about local solutions in agriculture, land management, energy,
water and sanitation and mobility among others. At the UN Climate Conference in Madrid (December 2019),
countries took steps to accelerate a more gender-responsive approach to climate action by adopting a
comprehensive enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) and Gender Action Plan (GAP) which lays
out the actions countries and the international community at large can and will take to achieve this goal.

Indeed, ahead of the UN Climate Conference that took place in Glasgow (November 2021), the Women and
Gender Constituency (WGC) noted that a key area of progress in Madrid was the adoption of the updated five-
year GAP that takes into account human rights, ensuring a just transition, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples
and local communities via a set of new activities aimed to meaningfully shift towards capacity building and
enhanced implementation of gender-responsive climate action at all levels, including for example, the promotion
of gender-responsive technology solutions and preserving local, Indigenous and traditional knowledge and
practices in different sectors.

However, according to GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice, ‘this new enhanced gender decision is still loose
in terms of financing mechanisms for implementing the activities of the GAP, as well as in the very writing of the
activities, which are not target-oriented or with achievable outcomes by the end of its 5-year term’. GenderCC -
Women for Climate Justice further notes that improving the participation of women in climate change decision-
making presents an on-going challenge, both at national and international level. While the numbers of women on
UNFCCC boards, bodies and government delegations have improved slightly in recent years, women continue to
be underrepresented, particularly in high-level positions.

To break the bias in East Africa, it is important that the women representation in planning and decision making
on climate action is scaled-up and sustained. Also, prior to the UN Climate Conference in Egypt this year, all
updated climate plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) should reflect provisions of the enhanced
gender decision (above), with clear means of implementation. In addition, mandatory climate change reporting at
national and local levels should include extent of gender-responsiveness in all interventions undertaken.

Above all national policies and laws related to gender and climate change should without bias, be fully
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implemented and enforced respectively.

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