The Seventh and Final Annual Devolution Conference was convened jointly by the Council of Governors, the Senate, the Ministry of Devolution, and the County Assemblies Forum and was held between 23rd and 26th November, 2021, at Makueni Boys High School, Makueni County.

The Conference made the following resolutions in line with the conference theme, “Multi-level Governance for Climate Action’ and Sub-theme “Sub- National Mobilization in Unlocking the Full Potential of Climate Action During and After the Pandemic,” to guide the National Government and County Governments in combating climate change:

THAT

1. The National Government and County Governments (hereinafter referred to as ‘both levels of government’) strongly affirm the need to conserve our environment and natural resources for the current and future generations
2. Both levels of government shall, in the spirit of cooperation, coordination, consultation and collaboration, design and implement practical policies, strategies, laws, regulations and action plans to address climate change.

ACTION: National Government, County Governments, Parliament, Development Partners, County Assemblies Forum.

3. Both levels of government shall in the next budgeting cycle, increase resource allocation towards mitigation and adaptation strategies to enhance County Governments’ preparedness and response towards impacts of climate change and pandemics.

Both levels of government shall build on the robust public finance management legal framework to ring-fence public funds for climate change action, ensure more equitable distribution of resources for climate action and timely availability of the funds to County Governments and other institutions involved in climate action.

ACTION: County Governments, National Treasury, Parliament, Commission for Revenue Allocation, Office of the Controller of Budget, Development Partners.

4. All County Governments shall, in the next one year, enact Climate Change related Acts/Policies/Regulations to provide legal frameworks for rolling out climate change-related programs and projects and participate in public-private partnerships for climate change-related projects.

 ACTION: County Governments, County Assemblies 

5. The National Government shall, in the next six (6) months, redesign the national security strategies that facilitate national and subnational coordination in handling climate- change instigated conflicts.

ACTION: Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, County Governments, Parliament, National Police Service

6. Both levels of government shall strengthen agricultural extension services, including expanding public extension funding, encouraging adoption of farmer and private sector-led extension services, and ensuring access to climate and market information for informed farmer decision- making and adoption of localized climate-smart technologies, paying attention to the vulnerabilities of women, persons with disabilities and marginalized communities.

ACTION: County Governments, National Treasury, Ministry of Agriculture, Development Partners, Community Leaders

7. County Governments shall design and implement public-private partnerships in a manner that can create conducive ecosystems for digital opportunities to enhance farmer access to information, market opportunities and innovate for solutions of future anticipated challenges in the agriculture sector that are gender responsive and inclusive.

ACTION: County Governments, National Treasury, Ministry of Agriculture, Development Partners, Community Leaders

8. County Governments shall use their respective Regional Economic Blocs to achieve climate change commitments and enhance climate action.

ACTION: County Governments, County Regional Economic Blocs

9. Both levels of government should develop a clear government strategy to reduce the cost of agricultural input, promote efficient land use tenure, and strengthen food security monitoring and reporting and respond to the barriers and gaps that prevent women from effectively participating in sustainable agriculture emanating from equal land system ownership and use.

ACTION: County Governments, National Treasury, Ministry of Agriculture, Development Partners.

10. County Governments shall work with development partners, the private sector and civil society organizations to strengthen and create multi- hazard early warning systems and enhance joint participatory scenario planning on disaster management.

ACTION: County Governments, Development Partners, Private Sector, Civil Society Organizations

11. Both levels of government shall promote and increase transparency and accountability at all levels and ensure that there is fair participation of all stakeholders, including the marginalized groups, persons with disabilities, women, youth, and minorities – in the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies to ensure their needs, experiences and aspirations are incorporated in the mitigation strategies for climate change.

ACTION: County Governments, Parliament, County Assemblies Forum

12. There is a need to encourage and nurture honest dialogue on climate change in the political discourse in the country.

The Conference urges political parties to include issues of adaptation and mitigation to climate change in their party and election manifestos.

ACTION: Political Parties, Elected leaders

13. County Governments are encouraged to partner with the Maarifa Centre for information sharing, capacity building, documentation and peer learning on transformative and innovative County models addressing climate change that have worked to accelerate their adoption by other Counties.

ACTION: Council of Governors, County Governments, Ministry of Devolution

14. County Governments shall in the next one year, fast-track the passage of the County Tourism laws to support Counties to develop a legal framework for Counties to take charge of museums, historical and cultural tourist attraction sites.

ACTION: County Governments, County Assemblies Forum, Parliament, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife

15. County Governments to diversify tourism attractions, promote and encourage domestic tourism, build unique tourism brand identity that can incentivize County tourism, and integrate local communities into tourism and wildlife conservation efforts.

ACTION: County Governments, County Assemblies Forum, County Regional Economic Blocs.

16. The National Government shall support capacity building of County Governments in the manufacturing sector to improve the manufacturing processes based on best practices.

ACTION:  County  Governments,  Ministry  of  Industrialization,  Trade  and Enterprise Development, Development Partners

17. Both levels of government shall work with the private sector to ease the cost of doing business to stimulate economic growth.

ACTION: National Government, County Governments, Development Partners

18. Both levels of government to ensure that 10 million Kenyans are vaccinated by December 2021 and an additional 30 million by December 2022.

ACTION: National and County Governments, Local Community Leadership and the Interfaith Council, and Religious Leaders

19. Both levels of government shall provide an enabling environment for embracing innovation and research as a preparedness measure against future disasters resulting from climate change and other causes.

ACTION:  National Government, County  Governments,  Local Community Leadership.

20. The National Government, in collaboration with County Governments and other stakeholders shall review the National Oceans and Fisheries Policy of 2008 to conform to the Constitution and devolution.

 ACTION: National Government, County  Governments,  Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Blue Economy, Development Partners

21. Both levels of government shall establish structures, systems, and processes for inclusive urban resilience in the cities, municipalities, and towns through strengthening urban entities to better respond to climate change and other disasters.

ACTION:  National Government, County Governments, Development Partners, Private Sector

22. Both levels of government shall, in the next budget cycle, increase investments in health disaster management through stepping up preventive health, planning and risk reduction in an innovative and integrated approach.

ACTION: National Government, County Governments, The National Treasury, Development Partners, Private Sector

23. Both levels of government to integrate and mainstream gender responsive and inclusive climate action policies, legislation, strategies and initiatives.

ACTION: County Governments, County Assemblies Forum, National Gender and Equality Commission

24. Both levels of government shall develop and review regulations and standards to provide an enabling environment for investment in renewable energy including clean cooking and E- Mobility for sustainable and affordable utilization of energy.

ACTION:  National  Government,  County  Governments,  Senate,  National Assembly, Development Partners, Private Sector

25. The Senate to set up a Senate Climate Action Committee in charge of climate change affairs.

ACTION: Senate

26. All sector resolutions shall form part of this Communique. Implementation of the sector resolutions shall be monitored periodically by devolution stakeholders.