Kenya 1c: Colonial Context

Sep 13, 2017 by Tracy Cherotich

How does your footprint reflect the economy of your country, including its colonial relations?

Kenya was colonized by the British and eventually gained independence in December 1963 after the British announced in January 1960 that Kenya would move into independence under an African government. Since then, our CO2 emissions have been increasing by averagely 0.02 metric tons per year. The country's CO2 emissions were around 0.30 metric tons in 2013.

This is as a result of the ever-developing economy of this country. Kenya still has relations with Britain to this day in terms of: Diplomatic relations, trade and investment, tourism, development co-operation and wildlife conservation. Kenya is still strongly influenced by the British as more shelves in supermarkets are filled with items imported from the UK.

The development differences in the country are quite significant as living in more developed counties like Nairobi would result in a higher carbon footprint than living in counties where agriculture is their main source of income.

How are the effects of climate change related with power imbalances among countries or within countries?

In most countries, a similarity is observed where a person living in cities or urban areas would have higher CO2 emissions compared to one living in rural areas. This also applies to countries where the developing countries would have significantly lower CO2 emissions compared to developed countries such as the USA (16.40 metric tons) or China (7.55 metric tons).

Although the footprint is smaller for the developing countries, they are the ones significantly affected by climate change. Countries like Kiribati could be wiped off the earth due to a rise in sea levels.

However, policies have been put into place such as the Paris agreement which demands the developed countries help pay for developing countries for them to adapt to climate change. Another is the loss and damage which calls on all countries with historically high emissions help pay for the loss and damage in developing countries caused by climate change

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