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{
    "id": 710993,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/710993/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 104,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me opportunity to contribute to this debate on climate change and the Paris Climate Change Agreement that we need to support as a country. Hon. Deputy Speaker, climate change is global and there is very little we, human beings, can do to stop it unless we abide by the physical science aspects of it. We, as legislators and/or lawyers, all we can do about the forces of physical science with our social science is just to design ways in which humanity can live within the confines of those physical science factors. Therefore, the impact of global climate change knows no boundaries. The activity that we undertake as individuals, communities or countries have far reaching effects. Sometimes we may not realise how important these activities are. An example is a small issue such as carbon emission in transport. People may not realise that it has great effect not only where the carbon is produced, but also far off in other countries. So, what China is doing will definitely affect Kenya, and we cannot isolate ourselves from that. There are things that look insignificant, for example, the sprays that we apply on our bodies, insecticides, detergents for cleaning utensils and furniture and so on, but they are, indeed, gases that get into the atmosphere. Even the forests that we cut, our mode of agriculture and how we use the rivers all have an impact on the climate. The effects are not confined to who is doing it and where it is being done. When these changes occur they affect the most basic needs of humanity and animals. What we all know and is clear to us is food security. Unless we mitigate the effects of climate change, we definitely will not be in a position to sustain our food security. Even the modern ways of producing food may have an impact. So, we have to look at how our food security will be and how it is impacted by climate change. Water is the most important commodity for plants and animal health. Hon. Deputy Speaker, climate change has a remarkable effect on availability of water. It is said that the next World War will be over water resources. This is something we need to look at. Communicable diseases move with animals such as birds which migrate in response to climate. If climate change occurs birds that, otherwise, would not move to certain parts of the world will move there carrying diseases that hitherto were not there, such as Bird Flu and Rift Valley Fever. In fact, even disease germs that did not exist may emerge. Our interaction with animals that previously were confined in forests could also enhance the spread of diseases. Diseases like cancer will be impacted on by climate change. So, this is something we cannot avoid. The fact that it has effects all over the world regardless of who is doing what means that we must have multilateral co-operation in this matter hence the Paris Agreement, which we must, as a country, support. In any case we are signatories to it. The Paris Agreement will bring many countries together. We hope that even the great and powerful countries will see the need for co-existence and sign this. We are party to this Agreement; we signed it in April, 2016 and by dint of the Constitution alone we do not need to adopt it. This Agreement distinguishes the unique circumstances of different countries at The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}