By: Sumaiyah Yakub | Official writer, Animal activists Kenya
A planet fighting to maintain its balance
For a long time, the world operated in a balance that seemed to work, the expansion of cities, industries and the economy. Human activities accelerated at a pace that left the earth unable to restore its resources ,especially fossil fuels. The burning of these fossil fuels, have led to the increased accumulation of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere leading to the warming of the earth to a degree that has never been seen in history.
According to the Copernicus climate change service as shown in the report below (https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2024), the temperatures reached close to the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold which is considered to have irreversible impacts on the climate.
Climate change is no longer an upcoming threat, its already here, affecting millions of lives from rising sea levels to extreme heat conditions, it is a global crisis that is urgent and unjust.
Climate Injustice: The unfair burden on the least responsible
The root cause of the climate crisis is the west including, countries like the U.S, U.K, China and other countries, which boosted the growth of their industries by utilizing more fossil fuels than the earth could afford. These actions led to massive amounts of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere which resulted in a domino effect from melting ice caps to rising sea levels as well as drought.
Least developed countries like Kenya, Somalia, Bangladesh, Tuvalu and other countries are facing the aftermath of all the damage that has been done to the environment, despite contributing the least to global emissions. These countries are paying for the actions of polluters who delay action and continue to make unimaginable profits from the systems that continue to harm the environment globally.
The impacts that these LDCS are facing include unpredictable weather, weather patterns are becoming more erratic, with droughts and flash floods destroying houses and livelihoods of the people. According to this website 35 million people all together from Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan are displaced due to the climate crisis, this is a huge injustice. (https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/26/thirty-five-million-africans-driven-from-homes-by-war-and-climate-disasters-report?CMP=share_btn_url)
The domino effect is quite strong, in that, the erratic weather (floods and droughts) has led to food insecurity in these LDCS, by destroying crops and depleting water sources. According to the world food programme 23.6 million people in Bangladesh are food insecure and have to receive aid to be able to survive.
Biodiversity loss is a major consequence of humans not maintainingthe balance of the ecosystem, causing them to collapse and therefore animals disappearing due to their collapse. Kenya is suffering great loss of biodiversity including, a 60% decline in wildebeest and a loss of a huge number of elephants and zebras as shown in this report
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2022/1208/As-drought-grips-northern-Kenya-human-wildlife-tensions-rise?//. This is quite concerning as many Kenyans rely on tourism for their livelihoods and may suffer, if they lose that.
The Animal activists fight back!
Animal activists Kenya is proud to be labelled a youth led organization, founded by a group of young individuals who decided to be brave and help fight this war against climate change.
From Planting 13,000 trees in the Aberdares by holding a garba night, to trekking to peaks of several mountains to raise funds for conservation and hosting film festivals, animal activists Kenya is full of energy and a burning passion to make an impact In Kenya and globally in the near future!
How you can support us
Let’s join hands and be part of the solution!
There are several ways you can contribute to our impact:
• Spread the word: Follow us on social media and share our posts.
• Join our events: Be participants of the fundraising events we hold.
• Partner with us: Collaborate with us in our meaningful projects.
• Donate: Help fund events/ activities like tree planting and education programs that directly tackle issues that have been cause by climate change.