The Quest for Afforestation Programmes in Response to Climate Changes in East Africa: A Scoping Review

Lucy Kithu
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya
Email: lucykithu@gmail.com

Abstract: Climate change has disrupted the global economy albeit concerted efforts by world environmental concerns to manage the negative effects. Climate change management campaigns on both experimental and intervention scales are being realized in the developed nations as well as Africa and Kenya. African countries have always faced difficulties in implementing global strategies and climate change management campaigns are such strategies that remain largely difficult to implement more so in East Africa and Kenya. Specifically, the study set to explore the enablers of climate change management, evaluate the barriers to implementing the strategies, and examine the afforestation measures taken by Kenya in improving the implementation of climate change management strategies. The study methodology utilized a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed articles, PRISMASCR with a synthesis of both qualitative and quantitative presentations through a scoping review covering the years 2019 to 2022 which falls within the Sendai Framework 2015-2030. Climate change management strategy implementation successes varied from country to country depending on many factors while differing from urban centres compared to rural areas. Finally, the shortage of environmental specialists and adequate funding to involve local communities in such climate change management strategies contributed to the failure of these strategies. Cooperation amongst East African countries is key to the success of climate change management strategies with increased funding to increase local community involvement. Additionally, strategies to increase forest cover and retain the current forests must involve the local communities from inception to implementation.