LOCAL COMMUNITY INTIATIVES IN MITIGATING CLIAMTE CHANGE AND PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1. LOCAL COMMUNITY INTIATIVES IN MITIGATING CLIAMTE CHANGE AND PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Patrick Karani BEA International www.BEAINTERNATIONAL.ORG

2. Introduction • BEA (Bureau of Environmental Analysis). • Non-profit Trust Foundation established in Feb 2002. • Located in Kenya with Local, National, Regional and International Focus on Environmental Performance and Quality of Life. • Program areas: • Climate Change and Carbon Offsets • Environmental Governance and sustainable Development • Capacity Building: education, training and information dissemination • BEA International Staff: • 6 professional, 2 administration and 2 international advisors • Collaborating Partners CBNet and Point Carbon.

3. Work and Experience • Policy Research • Public Awareness • Education, Training and Capacity Building • Projects and Programs Design and Implementation

5. Site C prior to work commencing, January 1999

6. Site C, November 2000 0 100 m Runoff Creek Creek

7. Site E, March 2002 Runoff 10 m

8. Simulator structure Atmospheric water Transpiration Evaporation Rain fall Respiration Surface water Plant water Carbon stock Photosynthesis Growth Runoff Soil water Sub simulator for Photosynthesis Root intake Infiltration Evaporation simulator Ground water Wind velocity Ψs：Soil water potential Mesophyll resistance rs：Stomatal resistance Light intensity Boundary layer resistance Transpiration rate Photosynthetic rate Leaf area index Plant growth simulator

9. Challenges • Inadequatesupportive legal and regulatory frameworks; • Incoherent political will; • Uncertainty on the timing in relevance of climate change and development; • Changing and shifting of priorities in budgets and R&D; • Inadequacy of regional policies on climate change; • Inadequate technical skills; and • Inherent institutional and admin. constraints.

10. Barriers • Institutional • Regulatory authority, including the national and regional authorities; • Limited focal points including national and regional African focal points; • Institutional and capacity inadequacy for the implementation of the space technologies; • Technical • National and regional human in-capabilities; • Climate change is scientifically oriented and Africa is scientifically handicapped; • Research tools are not so advanced; • Inadequacy of regional hardware and software; • Lack of regional master plan; • Financial • Inadequate domestic savings • Limited foreign exchange • Dependence on ODA

11. Barriers ctd… • Political will to support climate change • Political perspective of poverty may be against climate change in fear of reallocation of resources; • National self interest in development may be against regional and international initiatives on mitigating climate change; • Skeptism on supporting climate change as a priority on national development plans; and • Consideration of poverty alleviation as a high priority;

12. Priority Areas for Improving State of Knowledge • Research and development to generate relevant and adequate data that contribute to the understanding of climate change and benefit policy making process. • Education, training, information dissemination and capacity building to enhance knowledge and skills. • Public awareness on the linkages between climate change and local community sustainable development.

13. Implementation Activities by SABSTA • Identify and prepare joint initiatives; • Identify, train and collaborate with local intermediaries to prepare research and project proposals • Develop their capacities to diffuse and disseminate research skills; • Develop simplified partnership frameworks, share and exchange information and experiences; • Develop and enhance local capacity to undertake R&D in climate change and development; • Encourage and support the participation of local stakeholders in climate change.