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Homa Bay County Governor H.E Gladys Wanga has advocated for a complete paradigm shift on climate change mitigation strategies.

“We Must Shift to Resilience and Adaptation on the face of harsh climatic changes,” Governor Wanga was speaking while leading a panel session at the ongoing COP27 conference in Egypt, where she sought to address the fundamental issue of how governments can make sure that risk-reduction and adaptation strategies are integrated at the local level.

The Governor supported the promotion of adaptation and resilience within the communities by highlighting climate resilient infrastructure, climate smart agriculture, capacity building, and awareness creation on climate change adaptation and resilience.

She based her argument on experiences in Homa Bay County and other Great Lake counties.

According to Governor Wanga, her administration is already implementing local adaption strategies, such as promoting the use of solar-powered rural water boreholes and solar lights in place of electricity; Clean Cooking Initiative for women-led households, fish markets, and county referral hospitals, the greening of streets, parks, and public spaces to reduce carbon emission and mitigate surface runoff, and the Youth for Trees Program to enable youth to increase tree cover are just a few of the adaptation measures that her administration is already integrating locally.

Governor Wanga appealed to the development partners, stakeholders, and climate change enthusiasts to support her with institutional capacity building on climate adaptation.

“We need technical and financial support to enable us accomplish all of the above.”