Kenya became the first African nation to receive landmark climate disaster funding. It will be used to identify Kenyans who have suffered climate-related losses and damages during the last decade.
The Sh90 million ($700,000) in funding comes from the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, a Switzerland-based United Nations mechanism funded by voluntary contributions from developed countries and the international community.
The Kenyan funding will be administered by the national government and used to identify Kenyan communities that have suffered losses as a result of climate-induced droughts, floods, crop failures and other extreme weather events.
Festus Ng’eno, principle secretary for Kenya’s Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, announced the achievement at a recent U.N. climate meeting in Bonn, Germany. He said the assistance is a milestone as Kenya is only the second country globally to benefit from the fund. Vanuatu, a low-lying archipelago, was the first.
In a Facebook post, the State Department for Environment and Climate Change in Kenya said, “Despite enduring some of East Africa’s most devastating climate shocks, Kenya has never fully measured the true scale of what has been lost. That is set to change.”
“It is long overdue for countries on the frontline of the climate crisis to receive support to build resilience,” Fred Njehu, a Pan-African political strategist with Greenpeace, told the Daily Nation. “Kenya’s allocation points to shifting climate actions, from frameworks, roadmaps, and dialogues to actual implementation.”
The funding comes as African countries continue to pursue climate justice and reparations from countries that are historically most responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.
Kenyan President William Ruto has often called for better financial models to hasten Africa’s economic growth. The country has established ambitious goals to mitigate the climate crisis, Jeremiah Kioli, chairman of the Kenya Climate Change Working Group, told Mongabay. He said Kenya, as the first African nation to receive loss and damage funding, demonstrates the country’s commitment to climate action and fundraising.
The funds will largely be used to create systems to assess the losses that will require compensation. “How do you measure loss and damage? You need the systems, just as it is with the Green Climate Fund,” Kioli told Mongabay.
“This achievement underscores Kenya’s leadership in climate action and its commitment to building resilience against the growing impacts of climate change,” the Environment Ministry said, as reported by Capital News.
Banner image: Mechanics attempt to rescue parts of a vehicle that was swept away from an open air garage in the March 2026 flooding that caused the death of at least 110 people and displaced 34,700 in different areas across Kenya. Image by Maxwell Agwanda.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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