Economic Impacts of Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies in Kenya
DOWNLOADJuly 1, 2023 - Ismael Fofana
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EmailIn a show of their resolve to act on global climate change and in response to the 2015 Paris agreement, 52
African countries had submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by 2021. All of these countries, except one, included
National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in their NDCs, although six of these NAPs were developed separately. The
NDCs reflect efforts by individual countries to reduce national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to
the impacts of climate change, while the NAPs are strategic planning documents which detail each country’s
medium- and long-term priorities and interventions for adapting to climate change.
The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), led by the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the
African Development Bank (AfDB), aims to mobilize US$ 25 billion to scale up and accelerate climate change
adaptation initiatives across Africa. The AAAP will support countries in making transformational shifts in their
development pathways by centering adaptation and resilience to climate change in their critical growth-
oriented and inclusive policies.
AKADEMIYA2063 is supporting GCA and AfDB with the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into
agricultural policies and expenditures, by providing technical assistance to inform and facilitate the effective
implementation of NAPs as well as to identify adaptation pathways and related policy options. This work is
currently being undertaken in two African countries, Kenya and Mali. This report presents the case of Kenya.
Kenya’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism and rainfed agriculture, both of which are vulnerable to climate
change and extreme weather events. Rising temperatures and recurring droughts contribute to severe crop
and livestock losses, resulting in famine, displacement, and other threats to human health and well-being.
Kenya’s vulnerability score in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) Index, which measures
the country’s exposure, sensitivity, and capacity to adapt to climate change, is 0.52 (rank 143/182), while the ND-GAIN Index score for adaptation readiness is 0.30. The country’s current and future climate change challenges combined with the difficult political and socio-economic conditions make Kenya highly vulnerable to climate change.
