Planet

The “Planet” pillar reminds us of the urgency of caring for the environment we live in. Climate change is having tangible effects at multiple levels: loss of biodiversity, disruption of ecosystems, worsening living and health conditions. Faced with these challenges, action is essential. In Kenya, AICS supports initiatives to tackle and reduce the effects of climate […]

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Seaweed farming. Shambas. Mkwiru, Kwale, Kenya. 2021

The “Planet” pillar reminds us of the urgency of caring for the environment we live in. Climate change is having tangible effects at multiple levels: loss of biodiversity, disruption of ecosystems, worsening living and health conditions. Faced with these challenges, action is essential.

In Kenya, AICS supports initiatives to tackle and reduce the effects of climate change. Work focuses on protecting and regenerating forests and agro-forestry ecosystems, and promoting sustainable use of natural resources. Together with institutions and local communities, efforts combine environmental protection and socio-economic development, strengthening people’s capacity to adapt to climate change. Many initiatives also address land access and protection of community rights. Growing interest is also emerging in carbon credit markets as a potential financing source.

In Tanzania, the focus is on strengthening national capacity to respond to climate risks and emergencies. A concrete example is the launch in 2024 of the first “Situation Room” in Dodoma, implemented with UNDRR and Fondazione CIMA, enabling real-time monitoring of extreme events and rapid response activation, integrating environmental management and security.

In Somalia, support is directed to responding to crises caused by extreme climate events such as droughts and floods, both through multilateral interventions with UN agencies and direct emergency funds to assist affected communities.

A selection of our interventions

Through this initiative, a contribution is made to the Tree Growing Fund by financing the National Environmental Trust Fund (NETFUND), the financial agency of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, with the aim of accelerating the achievement of 10% national forest cover and promoting strategies capable of adequately addressing climate change.

The initiative focuses on the Cherangany water tower, one of Kenya’s five strategically important forest ecosystems, where environmental restoration and forest protection activities are carried out. It is implemented in the counties of West Pokot and Elgeyo-Marakwet, as well as in neighboring counties connected to the ecosystems concerned.

The intervention includes activities aimed at strengthening forest governance, improving the productive capacity of certified and high-quality seedlings, piloting and disseminating appropriate technologies for tree cultivation and environmental recovery, and raising awareness and mobilizing communities and the private sector to ensure their active participation in forest management.

The forest management system is being improved through collaboration with national and local authorities, enabling them to act more effectively to protect and manage forests sustainably. These interventions contribute to increasing green cover, restoring degraded areas, and reducing CO₂ emissions.

The initiative is implemented in Somalia by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the aim of improving information management on the country’s water and land resources.

It is structured around two components. The first addresses the effects of climate change, particularly through reducing flood risks that frequently affect the city of Qardho in Puntland. The second supports the gradual transfer of the functions of the SWALIM information system, developed by FAO, to Somali institutions and ministries, with a view to ensuring long-term sustainability.

The system provides data and informational products that are essential for the sustainable management of land, water, and natural resources in the country.

L’iniziativa viene realizzata in Somalia dall’Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l’Alimentazione e l’Agricoltura (FAO) con l’obiettivo di migliorare la gestione delle informazioni sulle risorse idriche e terrestri del Paese.
Sono previste due componenti: da un lato, si interviene contro gli effetti del cambiamento climatico e in particolare per la riduzione dei rischi di inondazioni che spesso colpiscono la città di Qardho in Puntland. La seconda componente interviene per favorire il graduale trasferimento delle funzioni del sistema informativo SWALIM, sviluppato da FAO, alle istituzioni ed i ministeri somali, in un’ottica di sostenibilità. Il sistema mette a disposizione dati e prodotti informativi utili alla gestione sostenibile del territorio e delle risorse idriche e naturali del Paese.

The initiative aims to address climate change and strengthen environmental protection by involving local communities in the management, sustainable use, and conservation of natural resources within the community conservancies, particularly in the Amaya Triangle across the counties of Laikipia, Baringo, Samburu, and Isiolo. Community conservancies are legally recognized structures under the Government of Kenya, administered by representative management committees and run by local staff. These conservancies border national parks and reserves and are rich in biodiversity, but unlike fully protected areas, they are inhabited. As such, they require environmental protection measures that are compatible with community development.

The initiative is implemented by the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT), a Kenyan organization founded in 2004 for the protection of conservancies. It promotes classic conservation actions such as wildlife tracking, anti-poaching and illegal activity monitoring, removal of invasive species, GPS mapping of forest cover, and support to ranger-led territorial control, alongside the tourism-based use of sites.

Communities are also able to use the land for livestock rearing and to establish entrepreneurial activities, such as livestock marketing and women-led handicraft production. The revenues are partly reinvested in conservation and partly in local development projects. This approach has a powerful stabilizing effect: beyond contributing to poverty reduction, it helps to reduce conflicts over contested resource use. The initiative also includes conflict prevention and mediation activities within communities.

In 2022, with the support of Italy and the involvement of the Italian cooperation system, UNDRR launched the “Early Warnings for All Initiative” to accelerate the implementation of early warning systems and disaster risk management in areas where they are still absent. Since 2019, five situation rooms (centers) have been established in Africa, connected at continental and regional levels: in Tanzania; at the African Union (AUC) headquarters in Addis Ababa; at the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) in Niamey, Niger; at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Nairobi, Kenya; at the Disaster Operation Centre in Abuja, Nigeria; and at another regional center in Cameroon.

Since 2020, the Italian Government has allocated €16 million to strengthen early warning systems and to establish the “African Network of Excellence” for disaster risk reduction. These initiatives have leveraged the technologies and expertise of Italian centers of excellence, such as the CIMA Foundation and the Italian Civil Protection Department, creating essential know-how and infrastructure to support climate change adaptation policies.

Last update: 29/09/2025, 13:52