Enhancing Access and Use of Climate Information through ICTs

Although the role of ICTs in improving human life in Kenya is acknowledged widely, the focus of much of ICT-related developments has been on human experiences at the level of disease and needs for communication and mobility. Less obvious is how such technological interventions may be used to address seemingly abstract yet grave concerns like climate change and its impact on the quality of human life. This review paper, therefore, shall investigate the different situations where ICTs may be deployed in relaying packaged and relevant localized climate information that can help rural farmers in Kitui County, Kenya to make pertinent and timely decisions to improve their productivity and, ultimately, their livelihoods. We hypothesize that rural communities' use ICT tools such as the mobile phones and the community radios to access localized climate information (weather, seasonal forecasts, and agro-advisories) and that livelihood assets and livelihood strategies positively change with the increasing availability and use of the ICT-based climate information. The idea of the paper presented is to merge theoretical and applied research outcomes to narrow the gap between the theory of ICTs usage and the practice of it, while linking it to climate information and enhanced rural livelihood strategies. The review of this paper shall be captured in social-scientific terms, and shall contribute to knowledge by helping researchers and policymakers to determine climate information needs of rural ASAL communities, knowledge on innovations related to ICTs, among others.

Comparative Analysis of The Role of Gender in Climate Change Adaptation Between Kajiado And Kiambu County, Kenya

Many studies on adaptation to a changing climate have been undertaken across the world Kenya included. However, comparative analysis of gender in relationship to climate adaptation is poorly documented. This study therefore investigated how gender impacts community based adaptation to climate change in Kajiado County, representing mainly pastoral/ASAL regions of Kenya characterized by dry conditions and falling between agro climatic zones IV-VII and Kiambu County, representing mainly farming/highland regions of Kenya characterized by wet conditions and falling under agro climatic zones of between I-III. The study applied systematic random sampling to identify 312 households for interviews. Purposive random sampling was applied where fourteen key informant interviews were done together with six Focus Group Discussions involving three groups of men only, women only and inclusive one to verify information from the individual interviews within the selected communities. The results are comparative analysis of how communities in two different agro-ecological zones (AEZs) adapted to climate change coupled with declining resource base while operating on unequal gender dynamics. The assumption of the study was change in climate in Kajiado and Kiambu County would lead to increased food insecurity and gender disparity. Respondents from both Counties experienced increased drought periods, reduced rainfall patterns thus negatively impacting their livelihood sources. However, there is more gender disparity in Kajiado than Kiambu and also climate change has execrated the situation thus undermining efforts toward food security.

Gender Mainstreaming for the Adaptation to Weather and Climate Extremes in African Cities

Although women constitute one-half of the human population and provide most labour in farming, they remain poor and most vulnerable to weather and climate extremes due to inequalities in ownership and decision-making on most important livelihood resources like land, assets and cash. Peri-urban farming offers an important adaptation strategy to weather and climate extremes and through gender mainstreaming, can become a vital tool for sustainable livelihoods and sustainable development. The paper points out that although well-planned cities offer better services to urban communities and their hinterlands, the African cities, particularly, those in Sub-Saharan Africa have been accompanied by myriads of developmental and environmental challenges, which continue to perpetuate inequalities, discrimination and under-development. For instance, the low-income communities live in risky areas without access to important services which increase their vulnerability to weather and climate induced hazards and disasters. The Paper discusses the links between gender mainstreaming, peri-urban farming, weather and climate extremes and sustainable development in Africa, where literature review is supported by fieldwork results for better policy formulations. This was an invited paper to the conference and is supported by a research gap on the need for gender mainstreaming in peri-urban farming to enhance equity and equality for sustainable development. The study was carried out in peri-urban areas of Nairobi (Machakos and Kajiado Counties) in Kenya. The results provide hope as these peri-urban areas seem to have some form of spontaneous gender mainstreaming that when positively supported would yield good results. The Article underscores the fact that a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could be achieved by simply targeting the attainment of SDG 5 on gender equality and women empowerment, including SDG 13 on adaptation to climate change