Kenya's Climate Crisis: Economic Losses Soar, Urgent Action Needed Across Sectors
Op-ed feature by Hakeem Ochola, Student |KCA University. Design Illustration on Effects of Drought Stress on some aspects of crops The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed more than 6 million lives globally. This catastrophe was compounded by other disasters such as hurricanes, drought, famine, and in East Africa, a plague of locusts that devastated vegetation across regions. These calamities have triggered global conversations on the intersection of climate change and disaster preparedness. In Kenya, the locust infestation was foreseeable, given the migratory nature of the pests and their earlier presence in neighboring Ethiopia. As countries pivoted to address the health crisis, climate change issues were often relegated despite their intensifying consequences. Although the pandemic was declared officially over by the World Health Organization on May 4, 2023, the climate crisis remains an existential threat. Photo Courtesy: National Geographic - Locust in...