Heatwave and Drought Adaptation to Enhance Health and Livelihood Resilience in Kenya - A Policy Review
Embargoed until 2025-04-21
Author
Date
2024-03-29Type
- Master Thesis
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Climate change poses substantial threats to the resilience and wellbeing of people in Kenya, especially concerning their health and livelihoods. Recognizing its vulnerability to climate change, Kenya underscores the critical importance of adaptation and resilience as primary responses to climate change. Recent developments such as the new medium term climate adaptation plans published in 2023 have reshaped climate adaptation planning in Kenya. To capture these recent developments, this study aimed at analysing the current state and effort in drought and heatwave adaptation actions to enhance human wellbeing in terms of health and livelihoods. This has been done through a qualitative content analysis of planned adaptation across Kenyan policy documents using the software MaxQDA Adaptation actions were categorized, and their potential effectiveness assessed based on the three indicators of integration, ambition, and inclusiveness. The findings reveal a focus on drought adaptation actions to bolster livelihood resilience, with limited attention to heatwave adaptation and the impacts of heatwaves and droughts on health. While progress is observed in vertical integration across government levels, horizontal integration across sectors remains inadequate. Moreover, actions lack ambition, especially in addressing climate sensitive health impacts. Stakeholder engagement is inclusive but predominantly focuses on common groups, overlooking marginalized stakeholders. Climate specific policies prioritize vulnerable groups, but sectoral policies lag behind. These findings can guide future policy planning. By closing the gap in heatwave adaptation and health resilience and ensuring adequate effectiveness of all actions, more resilient adaptation planning can be achieved in Kenya. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000669743Publication status
publishedPublisher
ETH ZurichOrganisational unit
09576 - Bresch, David Niklaus / Bresch, David Niklaus
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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