Kenya’s Dr Alice Akinyi Kaudia is new Coalition Co-Chair

by CCAC secretariat - 10 May, 2017
Dr Akinyi Kaudia is Environment Secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Kenya

At its recent Working Group meeting in Santiago, Chile, Climate and Clean Air Coalition partners welcomed Kenya’s Alice Akinyi Kaudia as its new Co-Chair. Dr Akini Kaudia replaces Chile’s Environment Minister, Marcelo Mena Carrasco, in the position and joins current Co-Chair Rita Cerutti, from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Alice Akinyi Kaudia  is the first Environment Secretary for the government of Kenya, a position she has  held since 2008. Prior to this, she was the Eastern Africa Regional Director for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Other previous engagements include:  Technical Advisor on Forestry Curriculum Development and community-based natural resources management (Zambia) and close to two decades at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute. 

In accepting the position Dr Akinyi Kaudia said it was an honor and important responsibility to serve as CCAC Co-chair.

Alice, Marcel, and Rita.jpg
Current Co-chairs Alice Akinyi Kaudia (left) and Rita Cerutti (right), thank Marcelo Mena Carrasco (center) for his work as Co-chair.

“Being invited to take up this important responsibility triggered childhood memories of my village, where the kitchen is a cooking space for a single pot balanced on three stones,” Dr Akinyi Kaudia said. “As the sun sets, women strive to quickly cook. The darkness is lit by a piece of wood, or at best, a tin lamp with a yellow light and black soot at its tip. Tears and coughing are a part of cooking.”

“I hope to make an immense contribution from my practical experience and knowledge, to improve the wellbeing of millions of people who still suffer from pollution caused by short-lived climate pollutants,”

Dr Akinyi Kaudia called upon Coalition Partners to work together and fully engage with each other.

“A team nurtures and delivers achievement,” she said. “I therefore count on the entire membership of the CCAC to enable all of us to deliver on the vision, mission and values of this Coalition.”

Dr Akinyi Kaudia holds various high-level international engagements in areas relevant to sustainable management of natural resources, climate change  and community development including being  a member of  World Resources Forum Advisory Board; Co-Chair of  Global Green Growth Knowledge Platform;  National Chair of  Global Green Growth Forum Kenya; and member of UN Environment’s International Resources Panel Steering Committees. 

Kenya is involved in numerous CCAC initiatives including Municipal Solid Waste and Supporting National Action Planning (SNAP), Household Energy and Bricks.

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