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{
    "id": 774713,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774713/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 272,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mwakuwona",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13509,
        "legal_name": "Danson Mwashako Mwakuwona",
        "slug": "danson-mwashako-mwakuwona"
    },
    "content": "Paper No.3 of 2017 on National Policy on Climate Finance. I have been following this conversation the whole afternoon and I am privileged to have learnt quite a lot. I want to bring to the attention of this House the fact that matters climate change are not matters to be taken lightly. I would disagree with a number of my colleagues because when we bring politics into this matter, we lose the gist of it. The country waits with bated breath to know what leaders are exactly doing to ensure that they safeguard the future of our children and that of their children. This Policy is timely because we are currently faced with challenges, particularly on food security, which are so pronounced in every constituency and county in this country. There is a great impact of climate change in this country particularly where I come from. In my constituency, we are facing very serious challenges around food security because of the issue of climate change. Taita Taveta County harbors the largest wildlife resource of this country, but today the human-wildlife conflict has gone a notch higher. Wild animals, particularly the jumbos, attack human beings as they search for water and food. This conflict has got to a level where there are now so many claims, including compensation for lost lives. This matter is very sensitive. Today, the KWS is not able to compensate our people when it gets claims on destruction of crops and loss of lives because those cases are now very common. I, therefore, stand in this House this evening to add my voice to those who have said that the new CS has his work already cut out. I would want to see the enthusiasm and gusto that we saw in the former CS for Education, currently the CS for Interior and National Security, in Tobiko as he takes over the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. If we run the Ministry of Environment and Forestry the way we have done in the past, it has never been taken as a serious department. Most of my colleagues have mentioned the late Hon. Michuki. We would like to see someone operating in that Ministry with that kind of force. Without it, as a country, we stand to lose. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I did not want to say much because much has been mentioned by my colleagues. I am keenly looking at the private sector involvement in climate change matters. We need a private sector where, say, we agree that we should have in place a policy that talks about billions of dollars earmarked towards the financial support of climate change activities. The Government must look at the private sector and determine how much it contributes towards enhancing our environment. We need to know how much the private sector is putting in as a percentage relative to their profits. We talk about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in most of these corporates but, indeed, what they do is very little. Many of the corporate bodies talk about education, but the percentage of whatever they contribute towards that education and other areas of environment is so little that it does not make any difference. It is high time we passed laws that would push these corporates to run environmental programmes that will support a policy of Government like this one. We have laws, but their enforcement around the issue of the environment leaves a lot to be desired. Hon. Sankok mentioned that human beings have moved into rivers, catchment areas and forests. It is very rare in this country to hear a case about enforcing environmental laws that has been taken to court. Maybe this is a wakeup call to the law enforcers that we must enforce laws as they are supposed to be enforced if we are serious about matters conservation. Two or three weeks ago, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Taita Taveta University and Helsinki University of Finland around issues of monitoring climate change. I am imagining that this should be the norm rather than the exception. All our universities should be talking about research around climate change issues and environment. If we put our universities at a position where they will conduct research around matters climate 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."
}