Embu County Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027

Abstract

The Embu County Climate Change Action Plan (ECCCAP) for the period 2023-2027 aims to enable Embu County to take significant steps to combat the effects of climate change and enhance the resilience of Embu County's communities and residents. Anchored on the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) and the National Climate Change Act, 2016, the ECCCAP focuses on mainstreaming sustainable climate actions in all sectors. The ECCCAP will increase the capacity of Embu County to achieve its development goals by enhancing the resilience of its citizens to climate change shocks. The action plan emphasizes involvement of special interest groups, especially the youth, women, elderly, people with disabilities and venerable communities. The timing of the development of ECCCAP is preceded by a period of adverse climatic conditions when human lives and livelihoods have been under significant threat from extreme weather events. The drought experienced in the County during the years 2021 and 2022 was perhaps the worse that the county has had in over 40 years. In the previous years, periods of extreme precipitation were also experienced. Over the years, higher than normal temperatures have been experienced in most parts of the county. These increasing incidences of extreme weather and climatic conditions, that appear to become more severe with time is a cause for concern by most residents of the county. The frequency of hot days and cold nights has been on the increase in the last 5-10 years. Being a county that largely depends on agriculture, these changes in climate means that crops cannot grow to maturity in many seasons, and this has caused a high level of food insecurity.