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Opinion: Kenya needs renewable energy not coal

Fossil fuel combustion and especially the burning of coal produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, leading to human induced climate change. Studies indicate that the global average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st Century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius. Rise in global temperature is already causing challenges to various societies.

A further rise will spell doom to the already affected communities.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, global temperature rise is posing huge impacts on rainfall patterns affecting water and food security.

Societies that largely depend on natural resources are affected the most. Efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius will mean urgent end to the fossil fuels era. Progressive governments are already ahead of the game in phasing out fossil fuels and phasing in renewable energy. Some have adopted targets and plans for their power systems to reach 100% renewable energy as early as 2020.

Kenya might have contributed the least to global climate change. However, despite its low emissions, Kenya is one of the countries’ most vulnerable to the climate crisis. It remains highly dependent on low-productivity agriculture for food, income, and employment. Temperature rise even if limited to 2 degree Celsius, increases the risk of droughts and flooding in Kenya.

Kenyans know the challenges of droughts and floods. In recent years Kenyans have battled the worst and devastating drought and flooding events. At a global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, projections indicate that the amount of dry days in countries like Kenya would increase per year.

Therefore, the transition to clean renewable energy needs to happen much faster.

The Kenyan government’s proposal for a coal power plant in Lamu is strange because Kenya has more than enough current capacity and potential for renewable energy generation to not only meet current electricity demands, but also to meet and exceed the projected demands through 2030.

Because of its high carbon content, coal emits more carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel when burned. It makes sense then that coal combustion is the number one contributor of human caused carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere. Worse still, coal mining produces methane, a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide. Coal is the most polluting energy source on the planet emitting more than 60 different hazardous air pollutants. The coal industry stands in the way for a safe and healthy future for all of us. It threatens our most basic needs from the air we breathe, the water we drink and from a safe environment we all seek shelter.

The Kenyan government must face the truth that we are no longer in the business of managing carbon pollution.

Emissions must be phased out. This means dropping its plans to invest in coal and focus on renewable energy. Politicians keep talking about the seriousness of the climate crisis, yet the same politicians continue allocating taxpayers money to corporations seeking to develop coal in Kenya. It is sad that our leadership is not consistent with what they say and do. As a result, we remain stuck in exploring the old, expensive, dirty and dangerous energy sources such as coal as the whole world moves to cleaner and renewable energy systems.

Investing in fossil fuel projects like coal mines locks countries into coal energy dependency for decades. The adoption of cleaner energy supply options such as solar, wind and geothermal means, Kenya will avoid a high carbon lock-in that other countries have experienced in their economic growth pathway.

In addition, this will enable Kenya to contribute to limiting temperature rises above 2 degree Celsius that threaten lives of its citizens and ensure that Kenya attains energy security for its prosperity and future.

Renewable energy options provide Kenya with an adequate energy mix to meet its current and future energy demands securely and less costly.

The country offers rich resources for sustainable electricity generation. It has a significant amount of annual sunlight hours with a high irradiation. Despite Kenya having high insolation rates, the percentage contribution of solar energy to the total energy mix is insignificant (less than 1%). The potential for wind energy is proven to be viable in various regions including Marsabit, Turkana, Ngong and the Coastal region that can support commercial electricity generation.

Kenya is endowed with enormous geothermal resources which are mainly located around volcanic centres within the rift valley. The unexploited geothermal power potential is estimated to be in the range of 4000–8000 MW.

The Ministry of Energy has conducted surface scientific studies in Suswa, Longonot, Eburru, Menengai, Arus and Bogoria, Lake Baringo area, Korosi and Chepchuk, and Paka.

Replacing old rice varieties

Breeders in Kenya plan to replace rice varieties that farmers have been using for the last three decades.

Dr John Kimani, a rice breeder and the Mwea Centre Director at the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation says some rice varieties were developed 32 years ago, yet farmers are still using them to date.

Some of the rice varieties in earmarked for replacement are ITA 310, BW 196, IR 2793-80-1, Basmati 217 and Basmati 370.

He said the continued use of old varieties could be blamed for the drop in production over the years. The national rice production is currently at 150,000 metric tonnes against an annual consumption of 650,000 metric tonnes.

Dr Kimani said rice is an important crop in Kenya and it is one of the main focus crops under the government’s Big Four Agenda on food and nutrition security.

Other crops include maize, potatoes, sorghum, millet, cassava, sugar and cotton.

Rice is mainly produced by small-scale farmers in Mwea in Central, Bunyala in Western, Tana Delta at the Coast and Ahero, West Kano, Migori and Kuria in the Nyanza province. About 300,000 rice farmers provide labour and also earn their livelihood from producing the crop.

Dr Kimani said KALRO, in partnership with the Korean Government, are developing high yielding rice varieties through introgression of high yielding traits from Korean germplasm to the local varieties.

“We are currently developing product profiles so that we understand why farmers and consumers have been clinging to these varieties for many years. This will help to ensure that the new varieties that will replace the old ones have those traits that are preferred by farmers and consumers,” he explained.

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ECHO answers unresolved questions but opens Pandora’s box

In culmination of what has been a sore point of speculation for nearly three decades, it is now a matter of scientific evidence that women using the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera, commonly known as Depo, are not more likely to acquire HIV than their counterparts using implant or the copper-T coil for contraception.

This finding is particularly important for countries in sub-Saharan African countries where Depo, a progestin-only injectable, is widely used and HIV rates are high.

The Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) study, whose results were released on June 13, 2019 in Durban-South Africa, has provided solid evidence on how the three contraceptive methods stack up in relation to a woman’s risk of HIV acquisition.

 “The ECHO study was conducted because of conflicting data. Some observational studies had indicated that using certain hormonal contraceptive methods increased the risk of HIV acquisition. Other studies did not show any such correlation,” said Imeldah Wakhungu, ECHO study coordinator for the Kisumu site.

In 2017, the World Health Organization released a most telling pointer of how dominant these contradictions were by releasing guidelines summarizing that women at risk of HIV can use progestin-only injectable but that they should be informed of possible risk.

The significance of the ECHO study in putting to rest these fears that have dominated public health spaces for years cannot be overestimated. And what cannot be under-estimated is the Pandora’s box that the study has opened.

“ECHO provides the highest quality evidence because women need to know whether certain contraceptives place them at increased risk of acquiring HIV,” said Dr Nelly Mugo during the release of the results.

She explained that three contraceptives in the ECHO study are currently prioritized and are widely used for their efficacy and safety. Ultimately, the study sought to answer one primary public health question and three secondary ones.

“ECHO compared the risk of HIV acquisition by pitting three comparable contraceptives against each other.

Efficacy, safety and continuation or discontinuation were closely monitored,” Dr Mugo explained.

This study started in December 2015 and participants’ follow-up concluded in October 2018.

In the end, the study found that HIV incidence was very high across all three methods and that there was no substantial statistical difference in HIV acquisition across all three methods.

Of note, 397 women out of 7,829 who participated in the study aged 16 through 35 years acquired HIV during study follow up over a period of 18 months.

“This is significant because the women were not profiled for individual risk of HIV acquisition and were offered HIV prevention services including PrEP throughout the study,”

noted Dr Mugo.

The door has been opened for speculations that HIV interventions in Kenya, South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia where the 12 ECHO study sites were set up have failed to stop infections among young women.

Overall, fears are now rife that years of HIV control measures have not borne fruit where they are needed the most and there is a need to reevaluate where women’s risk for HIV exposure lies.

Other HIV experts have raised concerns that the study does not fully answer some key public health questions because it settled on an age group that has been documented for its vulnerability to HIV acquisition.

This vulnerability is based on age, gender and economic status.

Furthermore, this is the age group that is most active sexually.

At the landmark 2018 HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment Scientific Conference where hundreds of participants gathered in Nairobi for over four days, in September 2018, it is the failure to prevent new HIV infections among young women 15 to 24 years that particularly stood out.

At the time, Anthony Chazara, LVCT Health and Youth Programme made a statement that completely resonates with the ECHO study.

“When you talk about new HIV infections, these are people who are negative today and HIV positive tomorrow.

Young people account for about half of these new HIV infections and this is a worrying statistic,” he said.

Adding that: “More than half of all new HIV infections occur among adolescents and young people aged 15 to 24 years which is a sharp rise from 29 percent in 2013.”

In just 18 months, a study that started with 7,829 women testing negative for HIV culminated with 397 testing positive.

It is therefore a matter of scientific fact that young women continue to be disproportionally affected by HIV and that this is not limited to countries where the 12 ECHO sites were set up but across Africa.

Throughout Africa, research shows that HIV infections among young women are double or triple those of their male peers.

In Kenya alone, young women are almost twice as likely to acquire HIV compared to young men.

According to National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP), due to their vulnerability to HIV, young women 15 to 24 years account for 33 percent of the total number of new HIV infections.

In comparison, NASCOP statistics show that young men account for an estimated 16 percent of the new HIV infections.

Experts attribute this high HIV prevalence to gender inequalities, violence against women, biological factors, limited access to health care, education and jobs, and health systems that do not address the needs of young people.

There is also the question of deepseated attitudes that young women have as well as their own perceptions of HIV risk. Surveys have shown that young women are still more fearful of an unplanned pregnancy than HIV.

These fears were astoundingly confirmed by the ECHO study which was summarily characterized by high sexually transmitted infections, high incidences of HIV, low condom uptake and notably low pregnancy rates. Reported pregnancies were mainly among women who had at some point discontinued assigned methods.