Welcome message - Hon. (Prof.) Kivutha Kibwana, Kenyan MP

The Kenyan Government is honoured to welcome delegates to the Twelfth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that will also be serving as the Second Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

Kenya is fully committed to addressing the challenges of climate change and has since signed the UNFCCC in June 1992 at Rio, ratified the Convention in August 1994 and acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in February 2005. Kenya is host to the only United Nations Headquarters in a developing Country and has several institutions working on Climate Change.

Climate Change is already occurring and Africa is the most vulnerable to the predicted impacts with poverty and limited technological capacity making Africa extremely vulnerable. Holding the COP 12, COP/MOP 2 in Africa gives the continent the opportunity to show the international community how the continent is already being impacted by climate variability and change and the need to have the region’s development priorities and reduction of vulnerability high on the global agenda.

Kenya is vulnerable on many levels and has of recent times increasingly suffered from disasters that include droughts, floods and mudslides. These events have caused massive damage to both public and private property including damage to infrastructure and loss of lives. These have had serious impacts on the development gains realised in the last four decades.

Kenya relies heavily on hydro-generated electricity. The rivers, where the power stations are sited have flows reliant on the glacier melts from Mt. Kenya. The number of glaciers have greatly reduced (about 92% of glacier on Mt. Kenya has melted in the last 100 years - Hastenrath, 1991). The country’s industrial base, as is the case for some other African countries, is therefore seriously threatened.

We need partnerships, especially in developing countries, to strengthen institutional and technical capacity to facilitate environmental friendly technologies in Africa and the rest of developing world. The mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol can help Kenya and other African countries fully engage in the worldwide effort to reverse the impact of climate change. Technology transfer is just one of the ways the western world can help developing countries. Emissions trading also has opportunities, but Africa has to build up the financial and administrative sophistication of the trading centres in the west. The continent cannot do this on its own.

Never before has there been such public support and it is a good time for governments to act. The convention must develop sustainable solutions, backed by political will, and the commitment and understanding of all nations. Responding to Climate Change 2007, explores the innovative options, in addition to those already in place, which combat the causes, and reverse the effects, of climate change. We are encouraged to see how different sectors from nongovernmental to industry to governmental are responding. And, as a world, we need to do more.