The Role of Environmental Diplomacy on Climate Change Adaptation in Kenya

Environmental diplomacy is critical for climate change adaptation in Kenya because it promotes international collaboration and addresses environmental issues. Despite making very little contribution to alleviate global warming, Kenya is actively participating in international efforts to mitigate climate change in African climate diplomacy. This paper uses Kenya as a case study to examine how environmental diplomacy advances mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the context of the global, regional, and local landscape. The Green theory in international relations was used as the anchor theory to guide this study. The study discusses and details Kenya’s climate policies, diplomatic initiatives, and international partnerships in an effort to support the current conversation and cooperative efforts to address climate change on a regional and global scale. The specific objectives in this paper included first to assess Kenya’s level of compliance with global environmental treaty obligations. Second, to determine the role of environmental diplomacy in climate change adaptation in Kenya. Third, to ascertain the challenges and opportunities in leveraging Kenya’s diplomatic efforts for Climate Change adaptation. Purposive sampling was employed in the study's descriptive research approach in order to select respondents. The target population was one-hundred and fifteen with the sample size being eighty-nine participants. Semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides were useful tools for gathering data. For the quantitative data, regression analysis was employed, and for the qualitative data, theme analysis was appropriate. The findings indicate that environmental diplomacy can reconcile the constant spread of ecological damage worldwide and the sluggish speed of implementing environmental conservation strategies. Kenya’s environmental diplomacy is essential to the country's ability to adapt to climate change since it pushes for funding, draws in investments, modifying policies, and encourages global collaboration to solve climate issues and advance sustainable development. The study recommends that environmental diplomacy should examine and enhance other aspects relating to the implementation of adaptation strategies, such as capacity building, financial resource mobilization, technology innovation solutions, risk assessment, monitoring and evaluation as well as stakeholder engagement. Key Words: Adaptation, Climate Change, Environmental Diplomacy, Kenya, Mitigation