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"id": 180674,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180674/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Bett",
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"speaker": {
"id": 157,
"legal_name": "Franklin Kipng'etich Bett",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to now pause and ask: What then is climate? What is climate change? Climate is the atmospheric condition in its natural condition that was originally created. If I could remind Members, God said after his creation: \"Everything I have done is good\". Now, this atmospheric environment has got gases in itself. These gases form a layer around the earth. The gases that form a layer around the earth include nitrogen, which is 78 per cent, and oxygen which is 21 per cent. The rest are lesser gases. That creates a natural greenhouse effect as we have in flower farming. I am happy that my good friend and the former chairman of my committee, Dr. Wekesa is here and I know that he understands greenhouse in terms of flowers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these gases provide a blanket of protection to the earth. The sun rays are deflected back and they allow a few of those rays to reach the earth. That is the way God created the atmosphere and that is where we have the climatic system as it is today. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this situation is soon and is actively being interfered with by human-induced emissions into the atmosphere. These emissions include carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, which is induced or introduced into the atmosphere, has been increasing over time because of industrial revolution and enhancement of our industrial activities as countries of the world. So, they increase that much. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other gas is nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide again is out of human activity and it is going up at the rate of 5 per cent. The other one is methane. You may wish to know that methane gas comes out of our waste products. If one was to measure the level of methane at Dandora dump site, you will find that the level is extremely high at that particular point but all that is being emitted and relayed into the atmosphere generally known as the stratosphere. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are also the Ozone gases which are being released into the atmosphere. I am not leaving the halocarbons which are normally used in our fridges. They are used in our cooling equipment. They are released into the atmosphere and destabilise the climatic conditions. That disturbance is what brings about climate change. I know my colleagues have said that the Hon. Obama has been talking about \"change\". Yes, there is also change in our climate. This change is adverse and negative to livelihood. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you may also need to know that these gases, as they concentrate within the layer we call the green house effect, they trap a lot of heat. That heat is then sent back to the earth. You may have asked yourself: Why is it hotter these days than it was before? It is because of emissions of gases that have already mixed up with natural gases to produce the green house effect. They are closing on us and transferring heat to us. This heat is what causes high temperatures today. We find that we have droughts which have never been experienced before. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when gases such as carbon dioxide are in the atmosphere, they stay for over 200 years. They work on us for 200 years. They have effects for the November 5, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3299 next 200 years. Methane, which is 23 times stronger in holding heat, stays in the atmosphere for 114 years. This is why I am saying there is great urgency to deal with the issue of climate change. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, like I said, climate change is a challenge to humanity. Its signs are phenomenal and known. They have been seen and I need not elaborate on them. The weather patterns in the world are changing. We used to have the short and long rains. However, they are no longer received in the months they used to. This is because of the green house gases destabilising atmospheric set-up. The moment you destabilise the atmospheric set-up, the weather conditions change. What happens when weather conditions change? It affects supply of water, food and our health. That is the urgency of this matter. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it again affects patterns of behaviour of plants and animals. In the process, they can cause what we see today in human beings; albinism. This is a result of disturbance of the genetic arrangement, so that genetic arrangement gives us a white child who is born from two black parents. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this green house effect also causes changes even to blossoming of flowers. The moment this changes, it affects the livelihood of the beasts and birds. The next thing is, you will not have honey on your breakfast table. We must address these issues as quickly as possible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these are the issues which we must address as quickly as possible. The migratory birds and animals will change their movement as a result of climate change. You will find the wildebeast not going to where they used to go. That also applies to flamingoes. They are supposed to go all the way to Lake Natron to breed, but they may now not go there due to climate change. The temperatures on the flight route will have changed and will force those birds not to fly to their breeding places. Consequently, that is going to give us many problems. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to give you a few examples of such situations. In 2003, heavy rains in Ethiopia displaced 70,000 families. In Kenya, there was El Nino and LaNina . We may not have thought seriously about them but those are the consequences of climate change. We remember the devastating effect the El Nino rains had in this country. Our roads and bridges were destroyed, and all manner of destruction happened. Then came La Nina, which is the opposite of the El Nino . It comes because there is a lot of heat and evaporation, which creates drought. Drought denies us food. In 2006, failed rains in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia put 17 million people in famine. It brought in the singer called Geldof to come and sing in Ethiopia in order for food to be supplied to Ethiopia. We expect more of those because of climate change. Another example is that in 2003, there were heat waves in India which killed 1,500 people. Europe, Italy and France had the same problem that time. There was drought in Australia and the effects are still being felt up to today. In the last 40 years, the temperatures in Siberia have risen by 3 degrees centigrade. Rising by 3 degrees centigrade is a huge margin that will destroy some acquatic life in lakes because it is supposed to stay in a cold environment. All that happens because of climate change. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming closer home, the snow-cap on Mt. Kilimanjaro has reduced drastically. That is because there is heat being generated by the greenhouse gases. The same applies to Mt. Kenya. That disappearance of the snow-cap, which the scientists are calling the \"permafrost\" will destroy some plants along the way. It will deny livelihood to animals and plants that were living on top of Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro. There are so many of such situations that are happening in the world today. There is the ice-melting in the Arctic and Antactic. The polar bear is in a big problem. Their numbers are reducing because of climate change. Disasters related to floods have increased since 1960 in the whole world. In 1960, we only had eight cases and in 1970, we had 31 cases. In 1980, there were 41; in 1990, we had 56 3300 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 5, 2008 cases; in 2000, there were 154 cases and in 2005, there were 170. The numbers are increasing for such catastrophies and I cannot agree more with what the United Nations Secretary-General said; that, it is no longer an environmental issue, it is an issue of human catastrophy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I quickly move to the issue of carbon dioxide; the culprits are the industrialised nations, and the sufferer is the developing world. Also, the developing world is contributing to the situation by cutting forests. The trees, the soil and the ocean are carbon sinks. Carbon dioxide is trapped by the trees, in the soil and washed away to the ocean. As we continue to do all this and cultivating land, we are releasing carbon dioxide from the soil to the atmosphere. As we burn wood, whether cut down yesterday or old, we release carbon dioxide, which was trapped in there, into the atmosphere. The net effects are the consequences I have told you about. Then, what must we do? We need to move as quickly as possible, to mitigate those things. The way to mitigate is to introduce--- I can see my time is up! With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}