1. ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY IN CLIMATE
CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION
Dr. Zablone Owiti, Ph.D
National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation
(NACOSTI)
Institute of Climate Change Adaptation
University of Nairobi

2. • Response to climate
• Role of Technology and Innovation
• Barriers to climate technology
Innovation
• Role of policy in Innovation
• Examples of Government policies
• Brief on NACOSTI Funding program

3. Response to climate Change
Mitigation
Reducing/Avoiding emissions =>
dealing with causes
Adaptation
Managing climate risks =>
dealing with impacts

4. Mitigation refers to the policies and measures designed
to reduce GHG emissions.
Measures can include:
• reducing demand for emission-intensive goods and
services;
• boosting efficiency gains; and
• increasing the use of low-carbon/ clean/green
technologies.
• enhancing “sinks” reservoirs that absorb CO2, such as
forests or peat bogs (a type of wetland where
decomposition is slowed down and dead plant matter
accumulates as peat).

5. Innovation in clean technologies is not crucial
solely because it will reduce GHG emissions,
it is also crucial because it will reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels, contribute to our
energy security and drive economic growth
and competitiveness.

6. Adaptation - Adaptation to climate change refers to
adjustment in natural or human systems in response
to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects,
which moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities. Adaptation occurs in physical,
ecological, and human systems.

7. Hard and soft adaptation- "Hard" adaptation
measures usually imply the use of specific
technologies and actions involving capital
goods, such as dikes, seawalls and reinforced
buildings, whereas
"soft" adaptation measures focus on
information, capacity building, policy and
strategy development, and institutional
arrangements.

8. Forms of technology for adaptation are often fairly familiar.
Many have been tried and tested over generations – coping with
floods, for example, by building houses on stilts or by cultivating
floating vegetable plots.
Other forms are much more recent, involving advanced material
science, e.g. remote satellite sensing.
For all these technologies, one of the main challenges is to ensure that
they serve those in greatest need – the developing countries and most
vulnerable communities, particularly those who live and work in close
contact with the natural environment and who stand to lose most, and
perhaps even their livelihoods, when ecological resources are under
threat

9. Types of Adaptation to Climate

10. 10
20-litre bucket kit LHLCD irrigation system

11. 11

12. Mitigation and Adaptation Leads to Sustainable
Development thro’:
•Promoting resource–use efficiency
•Reducing waste and pollution
•Building resilience (e.g. through adaptation to
environmental changes)

13. We need to design the mitigation & Adaptation strategies in such a
way that they help ensure sustainable development.
Climate Change mainstreaming can be defined as the informed
inclusion of climate change considerations into the decisions of
institutions that drive national, local and sectoral development policy,
rules, plans, investment and action.
The objective is for adaptation and mitigation measures to be
implemented "as part of a broader suite of measures within existing
development processes and decision cycles”

14. Developing countries do not have the technological capacity
to effectively adapt to or mitigate climate change.
There is need for transfer and development of appropriate
technologies to enable them to do so
For technology transfer and development to be undertaken
effectively, developing countries have to identify their
technology needs (TNA) depending on their:
• development plans;
• Priorities; and
• national circumstances

15. Main issues that had to be addressed were:
• The country’s development plans and priorities. This was done
through review of Government Development Plans the main
one being Vision 2030 and other documents.
• The sectors that contribute most to the development plans and
priorities. Again this was done through review of Development
Plans and other documents.
• Technologies that contribute most to national development and
also address climate change adaptation and mitigation
Practically all identified sectors contribute to national development and
are also related to climate change. But there are those ones that
contribute most => Need for prioritization
THE TECHNOLOGY NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROCESS (KENYA)

16. For climate change adaptation two sectors were selected namely:
 Agriculture
 Water resources
The selected technologies for climate change adaptation were the
following:
In the agriculture sector:
• Drought resistant Sorghum variety of crops
• Drip irrigation technologies
In the water resources sector:
• Surface water harvesting
• Roof water harvesting
SELECTED SECTORS AND TECHNOLOGIES

17. For climate change mitigation the selected sectors were:
 Energy
 Waste management
The selected technologies for mitigation were:
In the energy sector:
• Solar Home Systems.
• Solar Dryers.
In the waste management Sector:
• Methane Capture from bio-degradable wastes

18. Root Barrier
Technology Root Barrier
Surface Run-off Water
Harvesting Technology
High Initial Cost
Roof Rainwater Harvesting
Technology
Lack of incentives
Drought Tolerant Sorghum
Technology
Low Adoption of Drought
Resistant Sorghum by
farmers
Drip Irrigation Technology High cost of initial
installation

19. Measures to Overcome Barriers
Technology Measure (s)
Surface Run-off Water
Harvesting
 VAT Waiver on materials
 Low interest rates on loans
 Intro. of Appropriate of Subsidies
 Intro. of appropriate land policy
Roof Rainwater Harvesting  Develop Policy on rainwater harvesting
 Encourage competition on materials supply
Drought Tolerant Sorghum  Sufficient Research funding
 Affordable credit and loans
 Effective communication and extension
 Effective market network
Drip Irrigation  Training of more technicians
 Incentives and tax rebates
 Low interest rates

20. PROJECT IDEAS/CONCEPTS
Two project ideas proposed for water and agriculture
sectors:
 Integrated Climate Change Project in Water
Harvesting and Drip Irrigation in Selected
Counties
 Promotion of Adoption of Drought Tolerant
Sorghum in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs)
of Kenya

21. 1. Integrated climate change project in Water Harvesting
and Drip Irrigation in Selected Counties
 The project idea is an integrated project that will:
• introduce 10,000 surface runoff water harvesting
systems,
• Introduce 50,000 roof rainwater harvesting units; and
• 500,000 drip irrigation to systems to communities for
agriculture and household use.
The goal of the proposed project is to enhance transfer and
diffusion of climate change adaptation technologies in
rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation in selected counties
in Kenya, for socio-economic development
Integrated Project Concept for Water and
Agriculture Sectors

22. Some barriers unique to Climate Tech.
innovations
•Environmental impacts are not priced (social returns exceeds private returns): firms will
not be able to benefit significantly from any advances they make in reducing such impacts.
Pricing carbon or other economic instruments that address environmental externalities will
therefore make investment in green innovation much more attractive for private investors.
•Policy uncertainty: long term investments require more predictable and stable policy
signals on how governments are going to deal with major environmental issues – boosts
the confidence of investors in green innovation & shift consumers towards more
environmentally-friendly behavior, thereby favoring the creation of new “green markets”.
• Dominant of existing technologies and systems : can create entry barriers for new
technologies due to, for example, the high fixed costs of developing new infrastructures.
• Differentiation of products in some areas is difficult or impossible: making it difficult for
new entrants to get a return from innovation on their investment. (prevalent in energy
sector where customers value electricity but may not possess the information with which to
discriminate between electricity generated from a wind or gas turbine).

23. The rationale for innovation
policies
•Negative externalities of
climate change and other
environmental challenges:
•If firms and households
do not have to pay for the
climate damage imposed
by GHG emissions, then
GHG emissions will be too
high.
•If customers do not have
to pay for the water they
use, they are unlikely to
use it efficiently.
•Has implications for innovation (both creation
and diffusion of technologies, products and
processes)
if there is no demand for environmental
solutions, then the demand for green
innovation will be below the social
optimum.
In turn, there will be insufficient
incentives for companies to invest in
innovation, due to little market demand
for any products or processes that might
come of it.

24. •The market failure implies that policies are needed to
correct this negative environmental externality, e.g. through
carbon taxes, tradable permits or other market instruments.
Market instruments that put a price on environmental
externalities will therefore be crucial to green innovation

25. Impact of policies in Green innovations (Case
Of Kyoto Protocol )
Sharp increase in some inventions since the late 1990s, coinciding
approximately with the signing of the Kyoto Protocol.

26. Context specific innovation policy needs
•Policy mechanisms to respond to context specifications of Green
Technology, the locations where they will be used and needs for
local actors. Some context specs are:
1. Rural Versus Urban: Rapid urbanization make cities key areas for low-carbon
infrastructure
2. Environmental Context: Some areas might be suitable for wind energy, others to
geothermal. Also different needs of households, farms, firms and industries.
•Building local innovative capacity to benefit from technology
transfer
•Align policy to country’s development needs – including focus on
poverty alleviation

27. Example1:
Projects introducing energy efficient cooks stoves have failed in some areas in
Africa because the technology was not consistent with local cooking practices.
The successful ones engaged local users in:
•Design of cook stoves
•Trained end-users on their maintenance
•Educated others on their use and maintenance
Example 2:
Photovoltaic Market transformation Initiative (PVMTI) initiated in 1998 with
GEF and IFC: initially failed in Kenya since there was no focus on capacity building
from the outset.
The Tanzanian (Mwanza region) component succeeded due to policy influence
(technical standards, lower duties and taxes), private sector capacity
building(technical and sales), raising awareness (demonstrations), enhancing
affordability and replication in nearby regions.

28. Relevant Government Policies
Technological innovation comes from private firms,
but only if the government creates the conducive
conditions such as regulations to induce
innovation by business and industry and pull both
existing and new technologies into widespread
use

29. Relevant Government Policies
• Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC (Via Constitution, 2010), CDM,
IET
• Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Policy (enables IPP to
generate electricity at a pre-determined tariff=> market stability)
• Solar PV System Regulations (only licence technicians allowed
to design and install)
• Solar Water Heating System (SHS) Regulations
• draft National Policy for Carbon Investments and Emission
Trading by the Treasury;
• NCCRS + Action Plan
• Draft National Climate Policy (National Climate Council +
National Climate Fund)

30. Relevant Government Policies
• Agriculture (Farm Forestry) Rules 2009, introduced under the
Agriculture Act, aim to promote and maintain farm forest cover
of at least 10 percent of every agricultural land holding
• Environmental Sustainability as a PC Target ( Waste mngt, CC
adaptation initiatives-energy & water efficiency, planting trees)

31. Opportunities for funding and Capacity Building to
facilitate Green Innovation development and
Transfer
•Increasing emphasis on ‘Climate Compatible” development in the
funding streams (e.g bilateral aids) created opportunities for
African nations to exploit funding and related activities to gain
access to, and uptake of climate technologies
•Opportunities to build indigenous innovation capacity through a
network of CICs across developing countries will catalyze Green
Technology Transfer, innovation and capacity building.
•Technology Mechanism developed under the UNFCCC: will
implement a Climate Technology Centre (CTC) in one developing
country and linked to a network of other centers distributed across
developing countries.

32. Role of NACOSTI in Research and
Innovation promotion
NACOSTI mandate: to REGULATE and
ASSURE QUALITY in Science, Technology
and Innovation sector and ADVICE
government on matters related thereto
NACOSTI administers science, technology and
innovation (ST&I) grant on behalf of the
government of Kenya which allows Kenyans to
conduct research and also undertake
innovation projects

33. • NACOSTI administers the Kenya Government ST&I
grant since 2008/2009 FY
• The grant supports research and innovations in
priority areas in relation to Vision 2030, Medium
term plan and Sector plans, MDG.
• Since inception the ST&I Grant – supported over
1000 research and innovations in both public and
private institutions
• Has been structured to target specific funding
categories for desired impact
The Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) Grant

34. ST&I Grant products
• Research
• Innovations
• Postgraduates - Ph.D & M.Sc/MA
• Women Scientists
• Research facilities
• Support for Conferences/Symposia
• Bilateral programs
• Post-doctoral research
• University Research Chairs
• Incentives for publications
• University-Industry linkages

35. Research Chairs Program:
The NACOSTI – IDRC project is currently
supporting research Chairs in universities in
areas of health systems and agricultural
biotechnology.
In future the project will support research Chairs
in climate change, material science, space
science, nanotechnology among others.

36. ST&I grant –Collaborative Programmes
• Kenya/S. Africa joint research projects
(27)
• NCST/ Japan Society for Promotion of
Sciences (5)
• Kenya/DAAD (54)
36

37. Adaptation & Mitigation Projects
supported by NCOSTI
• Bicycle Mobile Charger: that reduces over-reliance on electricity to
charge phones
• An-Electro-coagulation Technique of Color Removal from Waste
Water: The technique is energy efficient and ensures water use
efficiency
• Home Water Purifier: Increases safe water availability in rural areas
with no piped water
• Domestic Waste Biogas system: provides clean alternative energy
at household level
• Shower Irrigation Technology: Ensure Conservation Agriculture by
using less water to grow more food.
• A pilot project on replacement of Kerosene lighting in rural and
peri-urban households areas with clean and efficient solar-
powered systems

38. Examples of developed Innovative ideas that have
been commercialized
2/20/2015
Improved livestock feeding
Production of biodiesel from
waste vegetable oil’’
Remote Weighing System
Tablets for Schools

39. Developed Innovative ideas
39
Shoe mobile charger
Car tracking system
Solar powered seed planterGrain moisture meter
3G Remote Camera

40. Email: zowit@nacosti.go.ke
http://www.nacosti.go.ke/