Kenya has won a bronze medal for its outstanding provision of information regarding the biological diversity to world.
The country received the award during the ongoing Conference of Parties (COP 13) in Cancun, Mexico in the category of establishment and development of National Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM).
Nations that are parties to the conference strive to provide effective information services in a bid to promote scientific and technical cooperation on the Biological Diversity under the clearing house Mechanism.
The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) which is the designated National CHM strategic leader, operates a national Multilateral Environment Agreement’s (MEAS) portal on its website, providing information, status and trends of bio-diversity in Kenya.
It lists various Ministries and semi autonomous government agencies and stakeholders that are partners in the program.
The prestigeous Global Award was presented at a ceremony held on the margins of the Conference of Parties (COP 13) on the Convention of Biological Diversity in Cancun, Mexico. It was received on behalf of the Republic of Kenya by Mr. Joseph Masinde, an Environmental Education and Information Officer from NEMA.
The award was granted through a certificate signed by the executive secretary of the Conference on Biodiversity (CBD), Dr Braulio F de Souza Dias.
The CHM further examines whether countries are transparent in knowledge sharing and information exchange that assists in decision making in order to establish a fully operational network of parties and partners to the CBD.
Network development, information exchange, co-operation, transparency, and the availability of national, regional, and local data are some of its key elements.
NEMA established her National CHM website in 2015 with the support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Medium-size Project under GEF-4.
The project was for the development of a National Multilateral Environmental Agreements portal, to provide all stakeholders involved in environmental conservation, with a platform on which information on Biodiversity and Climate Change would be posted.
PSCU