Siaya County Climate Change Action Plan (2023-2028)

This Action Plan represents a key milestone towards addressing the county’s vulnerability to climate change, moving from the consideration that the county is characterised by high poverty levels, food insecurity and is extremely susceptible to impacts of a changing climate, like floods and other natural disasters, because most livelihoods are reliant on climate sensitive sectors including agriculture and trade in agricultural products, fisheries, water and sanitation, forestry, and social infrastructure. Therefore, this Action Plan has identified sectoral adaptation needs and has also detailed specific sectoral measures, key implementing partners and indicative costs, coupled with existing strategies at the county, national, regional and international levels as well as development and economic plans, that will resource its implementation. The Action Plan provides for achieving the following objectives: assessing the evidence and impact of climate change in Siaya County; recommending robust adaptation measures in all priority sectors; enhancing understanding of climate change and its impacts among relevant stakeholders; creating an enabling policy, legal and institutional framework to address climate change; mobilising resources to implement, monitor and evaluate priority actions.
Concerning the targeted proposed actions for each core sector, this Plan focuses on: promotion of drought tolerant and early maturing crop varieties; increasing climate smart agriculture and flood based irrigation; promotion of agroforestry, livelihood diversification and reducing effects of climate change on vulnerable communities; development of water infrastructure through improved water harvesting techniques and rehabilitation of existing ones, protection of water catchment areas, strengthening community governance of rural water schemes and improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities; reforestation of degraded areas, promotion of energy efficient cook stoves to reduce household and institutional demand on biomass energy while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions; reducing soil erosion and improving soil quality; strengthening agricultural extension services and mainstreaming climate change information and technologies into the farming system; promoting beekeeping and control of pests and diseases affecting crops, animal and fisheries; strengthening fish value chain to create formal and informal job framework; increasing fisheries monitoring, control and surveillances; protection of fish breeding sites to minimise unsustainable fishing practices and habitat destruction; strengthening early warning systems in reduction of fire outbreaks; supporting new enterprises suitable for the environment, including bee keeping, domestication of plant medicinal plants, tree crops and forages of economic value.