Financing for Climate Change Adaptation in the Global South: An Analysis of Climate Action in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands 1992-2018

Abstract

Climate change is a global phenomenon that is directly linked to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Different countries have had varied contributions to the emissions and on the other hand the levels of vulnerability is different as ifs determined by their adaptive capacities. Developed countries have been held as the most responsible for the global warming that has significantly changed the weather patterns across the world. The developing countries on the other hand have borne the brunt of the challenges presented by climate change yet they are the lent contributors to the hazard. Concerted effort is required to address the problems presented by climate change taking into consideration the impacts it has on the vulnerable people in the global society who are majorly located in the developing counties. Climate induced hazard in Kenya's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands have become more frequent and severe over the last couple of years. As a result of low adaptive capacity of the communities in these areas and implementation of standalone adaptation interventions, these communities continue to face the negative impacts of climate change. Financial resources have been allocated for climate adaptation however a major challenge has been that the authorities have paid more attention to disaster response as opposed to resilience building. The overall objective of this research was to study the financing for climate adaptation within the global south through an analysis of climate action in arid and semi-mid lands of Kenya from 1992-2018. The study sought to assess the tends in financing for climate adaptation in the Global South between 1992 and 2018, to review Kenya's levels of adaptation to climate change impacts and to evaluate climate action barriers with regard to investments for climate adaptation in Kenya's ASALs. The study adopted a mix method approach. Secondary data was obtained from climate adaptation financing trends from 1992 to 2018 collected from reports. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Respondents were selected using convenient sampling method. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data analysis. To run descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentages, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 24) was utilized to exhibit the quantitative data as tables and graphs in accordance with the key study questions. The study established that in the early years of adaptation funding under the UNFCCC, three financial mechanisms were set up to fund adaptation activities in developing states and these included the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), the Adaptation Fund, and the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF). The measures for adapting to climate change were established to be funded through international financing, multilateral banks and national treasury budgetary allocation. Kenya and its ASAL regions have majorly benefited from the Green Climate Fund from between 1992 and 2018. The other sources of financing for Kenya and its ASALs in this period are the Global Environment Facility and the Adaptation Fund. On the issue of effectiveness these financing mechanisms in building the adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable segments (ASALs) of the society, majority of the respondents specified that these financing mechanisms were moderately effective. The study recommends that the climate change stakeholders in Kenya work towards addressing these challenges including transparent governance of the climate adaptation funds. Since this study was limited in scope to cover Kenya as an example, more studies on the same should be carried out across the region, specifically the vulnerable Eastern Africa region.