The failure on the part of government authorities to adapt to climate change, which causes the drying up of water resources and disturbed precipitation patterns are responsible for the widespread poverty in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
Precipitation variability is currently exerting additional pressure on the city’s water availability, while the residents are experiencing frequent rationing due to the local water company’s inability to meet demand.
In addition, the risk of death, diseases and injuries related to climate variability is already being felt in the city. The whole situation is the result of the reduction of yields from rain-fed agriculture that is currently causing food insecurity.
Unemployment, coupled with weak social services, insufficient housing and basic infrastructure as well as increasing disparities are resulting in a high degree of exclusion, which leads to social dysfunction and unrest.
According to Ms. Jane Anyango, a resident of Makena village of Nairobi’s Kibera slum, the water problem continues unabated due to the high population growth rate in the area.
“Despite politicking and promises by the government, there is hardly any visible development of water infrastructure that can be seen by the residents,” explains the 37-year-old mother of three.
She adds that when the water flow is normal, the residents pay KSh3 a 20-litre jerrycan, but that during rationing, it goes up to KSh10, a figure that only a few residents can afford.
Ms. Anyango reveals that the scarcity of water and the high population growth rate in the slum has left the residents even poorer as they cannot involve in urban farming as the whole place is built up.
The residents are forced to wake up very early in the morning in search of the commodity, and at times they have to queue at the few water points for hours on end.
“A large section of Nairobi’s urban population lives without access to even the most basic services,” says the UN Habitat executive director, Dr. Anna Tibaijuka.
She adds that most African cities, Nairobi included, have the most alarming concentrations of poverty. “The way foreword is for African cities to develop their respective climate change mitigation and adaptation plans with the priority of improving the living conditions in slums, which house most of city residents,” she adds.
Tibaijuka calls for a clear, unequivocal, pro-poor and gender-sensitive approach to the endemic poverty.
“The level of water in the Sasimua dam, that feeds Nairobi, continues to fall due to long periods of drought as a result of climate change,” says the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company managing director, Francis Mugo.
He adds that the water level in the dam, that accounts for 80 per cent of the city’s water supply, is dropping at the alarming rate of between of between 7cm and 10cm a day.
Mugo further notes that the volume has gone down from the normal 70 to 27 million cubic metres.
He says the water problem stems from the Aberdare range and the Mount Kenya regions where climate change has reduced water flows as a result of environmental degradation.
“At the moment we are rationing water in the city and the residents must brace themselves for more serious rationing in the near future unless it rains heavily,” he warns.
Mugo explains that the city council is currently exploring alternative sources such as harvesting to be able to meet the growing demand.
New buildings are now required to have harvesting facilities in place before tenants move into them.
“Climate change actions by African cities need to be expanded and capacities strengthened through the integration in national action plans and global reporting,” says the head of Habitat’s urban environment and planning section, Raf Tuts.
Speaking in Nairobi during a recent regional conference of mayors of African capital cities, he urged the civic leaders to raise their voice in climate change policy debates, or the severest burden will be borne by the poor in African slums.
He told the cities’ policy makers to invest in storm water drainage and early warning systems as well as enhance community resilience, upgrade slums and move extremely vulnerable settlements to safer areas.
According to the UN Habitat’s 2008 State of the African Cities report, urban water security in particular is rapidly becoming a theme that may, in the near future, dictate the feasibility of both large and small towns.
The worst climate change scenarios predicted by environmentalists several years ago are already being seen in major African cities. For instance, extreme weather conditions are damaging buildings and the general infrastructure in major towns, not to mention the stresses of water resources such as floods and drought.
The report notes that strategic positioning should now be initiated to assure urban energy and food security. Although the worldwide urban growth is expected to slow down, it projects the reverse in Africa, where the population is set to double by 2030.
According to the report, the continent is still the least urbanised in the world, with only 38.7 per cent of its population living in settlements classified as towns.
The eastern African region is the least urbanised in the world, although the situation is fast changing for the better.
The mayor of Dar es Salaam, Adam Kimbisa, told the gathering that the extinction of early animal and plant species in Tanzania is the result of climate change. “Due to lack of awareness on the residents’ part, Maziwe Island in Tanzania recently submerged as a result of climate change,” he noted.
He added that areas in the country that were once not infested with mosquitoes are now leading malaria zones, and urged the developed world to help Africa to develop mechanisms that will enable it to cope with climate uncertainties.
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