By

COL (RTD) BOB YUGI

ROLE OF THE NATIONAL DISASTER OPERATION CENTRE IN CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND INTERNAL SECURITY

2

BACKGROUND

• Kenya is affected by various disasters whose diverse effects are borne by the citizens.

• Over the years, disasters have resulted in human suffering due to minimal or lack of preventive and mitigation measures in order to minimize their effects.

NATIONAL DISASTER OPERATIONS

CENTRE (NDOC)

Initially established on 21 Jan 98 following the adverse effects of El Nino rains.

Later, the US Embassy bomb blast in Aug 98 affirmed the requirement to have a permanent entity to coordinate disaster management in the country.

It is manned by officers drawn from various Ministries/Departments of the Government on a 24 hour basis. These include Ministry of Defence, Provincial Administration, Health, Ministry of Roads and Public Works, Local Government, National Youth Service , etc

MISSION

To monitor, co-ordinate, mobilize

resources and respond to disaster

incidents in the country.

MANDATE

Monitor all disasters on 24 /7 basis.

Mobilize national resources to combat

rapid onset disasters.

Co-ordinate disaster management

activities.

Collaborate and network with other

stakeholders.

Coordination at the national level of all disaster management activities.

Ensuring agencies are informed of the activation of disaster contingency plans.

Translating the decisions of the National Disaster Coordination Committee (NDCC) into action.

PDMCs

DDMCs

DIVISION

NDOC LINKAGE CHART

SUB-LOCATIONLOCATION

VILLAGE

MINISTRIESUN,NGO,CBO NDOC

REGIONAL AND INTN’L

ASSOCIATION

NDOC liaises with the Regional Disaster Management Centre of Excellence, a key link to member states.

The Kenya Red Cross society connects Kenya to the International Red Cross.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) country office in Nairobi links it to the UN system.

LANDSLIDES

FLOODING IN BUDALANG’I

Drought

IMPACT OF CLIMATE

CHANGE IN KENYA

Deaths

1.Climate change is now ranked as the

world’s new epidemic, leading to the

deaths of 300,000 people annually

through floods, disease and hunger.

Daily nation 18th June 2010

2.Agriculture

Most of Africa relies on rain-fed

agriculture. Any amount of warming will

result in increased water stress. Roughly

70% of the population lives by farming,

and 40% of all exports are agricultural

products .One-third of the income in

Africa is generated through

agriculture.(Odingo 1990; FAO 1999).

3. Water supply.

The snow and glaciers of Kenya act as a

water tower, and several rivers are drying out

in the warm season due to the loss of this

frozen reservoir (IPPC 2001)

4. Disease.

Small changes in temperature and

precipitation will boost the population of

disease-carrying mosquitoes and result in

increased malaria epidemics (Lindsay

and Martens 1998).

5. Impact On Animals

Africa occupies about one-fifth of the global land

surface and contains about one-fifth of all known

species of plants, mammals, and birds in the world,

as well as one-sixth of amphibians and reptiles

(Siegfried 1989).

Coral reefs in the Indian Ocean experienced massive

bleaching in 1998, with over 50% mortality in some

regions. Damage to coral reef systems has far

reaching implications for fisheries, food security,

tourism and overall marine biodiversity.(Spalding

2001)

6. Biodiversity loss

Given the heavy dependence on natural resources

in Africa, many communities are vulnerable to

the biodiversity loss that could result from

climate change. The impact of climate change on

humans will also be compounded by climate

change-induced alterations of agriculture, water

supply and disease.

ROLE OF NATIONAL DISASTER

OPERATIONS CENTRE IN THE

MANAGEMENT OF CLIMATE

CHANGE

1. Collaborates with National Climate

Change Activities Coordinating

Committee (NCCACC).

Its members are drawn from ministries of

agriculture and Forestry, Energy, Planning,

Finance, Industry, Research and Technology,

municipal councils, public universities, the

private sector and from non-governmental

organizations. It performs the following:

Public information and awareness

Assist with the preparation of information to the

IPCC and other bodies concerned with climate

issues, and ensure the formulation of appropriate

national responses to issues which may be raised

at national and international levels;

Development of human resources, including the

preparation of teaching materials on climate

change;

Advise the government on climate change-related

aspects requiring policy guidance;

Advise the government on the implications of

commitments under the UNFCCC on climate

change and related issues;

Respond to scientific and other issues on climate

change, impacts and respective strategies;

Advice on the selection of participants to national

and international meetings related to climate

change.

Ensure the establishment of a properly networked

database on climate change, impact and response

strategies, and research activities;

Identify and facilitate development of national

research programmes on climate change, impacts and

response strategies and options, and advise the

government on studies for which funding by the

Global Environment Facility (GEF) or any other

international financial mechanisms is required;

Identify research projects requiring regional and

international cooperation;

2. Coordination at the national level of all disaster

management activities before, during and after

the disaster.

With KenGen NDOC developed Project Idea Notes (PINs)

for nine of its many power generating projects and

submitted them to the World Bank, 6 of which were

accepted for emission trading.

Ensuring that all key personnel and volunteer

agencies are informed of the activation of

disaster contingency plan(s)

Translating the decisions of the National

Disaster Coordination Committee (NDCC)

into action and/or instruction and ensuring

that those instructions are transmitted and

carried out by the Ministries/departments to

whom they are directed

3. Preparing all inventories for resources/assets countrywide.

4. Prepares and issues a daily situation report (SITREP) to the subscribing Ministries/Departments (eg with KMD Weather reports)

5. Floods .

Developing a prioritized list of needs for donors to meet shortfalls in relief supplies

Preparation of evacuation plans, shelter and refugee areas including identification of executing agencies

6 .Arranging clearance for aircrafts, ships as well as

customs and visas clearance for overseas relief

personnel and agencies

7. Media programmes for public information and

press briefing at the center.

8. Carrying out annual review, evaluation and

validation of national and sectorial disaster

mitigation plans with a view of improving their

effectiveness and efficiency

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

Manning the centre on a 24/7, 365 days

National Focal Point and DRR Platform

Availability of standby pool of operational

officers

Formulation of disaster policy and

contingency plans

Capacity building on personnel

National inventory for disaster response

Hazard mapping of the country (on-going)

Advocacy and Awareness campaigns across the country.

Regional and International cooperation.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS (Cont)

OTHER MITIGATIONS EFFORTS

TOWARDS COMBATING CLIMATE

CHANGE IN KENYA

Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol:

The country has also operationalized the implementation of target objectives and agreements albeit at lower scale due to socio -economic challenges.

Key among these are re-development of existing hydropower and gas-power projects to produce clean energy in turn reducing CO2

Involved in water catchment

conservation in all the 5 water towers of

Kenya through a tree planting

partnership with local communities

under the Kenya Sector Environment

Program.

Increasing the cumulative number of

clean\ energy projects in the country.

Working in collaboration with Carbon Footprint

Limited (United Kingdom-based on-line commercial

enterprise trading in carbon offsets and offering

consultancy services), TIST has a tree planting

project based in Laikipia and Meru Districts, Central

Kenya taking advantage of the Voluntary Emission

Reductions(VERs). 1,415,715 trees have been

planted by 2,650 small groups funded by USAID

(Murray and Dey, 2009).

CONSTRAINTS AND

CHALLENGES

MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING DISASTER MGT

IN KENYA:

• low levels of development.

• Inadequate resources and awareness.

• Unplanned urban development.

• Illegal and substandard structures.

MAJOR CHALLENGES Cont..

• Legal frameworks, policies, political commitment, decentralization and appropriate allocation of resources.

• Community response.

• Strengthening of PDC and DDC

• Awareness and level of preparedness.

• Inadequate validation of existing disaster

management plans.

• Porous borders

• Insufficient law and bylaws enforcement

• Corruption

MAJOR CHALLENGES (Cont…)

CONCLUSION

Magnitude and frequency of the impacts are

expected to increase due to effects of

development on the environment and

livelihoods.

A culture of safety and security is mandatory

as first line prevention to the Climate Change.

these require efforts beyond the ability of one

single agency or community, hence, the global

approach as agreed through the Yokohama and

Hyogo Framework of Action.

CONCLUSION Cont…

Information and knowledge must be shared

because it is everybody’s responsibility to pass

on the message . Knowing what to do will

make a difference between life and death.

THANK YOU

NATIONAL DISASTER OPERATION CENTRE (NDOC)

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION AND INTERNAL SECURITY

NYAYO HOUSE 3RD FLOOR

P.O BOX48956-00100 Tel 020-2211445,NAIROBI, KENYA 2212386

FAX 020-2250649

nationaldisasterops@yahoo.co.uk