Start Date : 7 Oct 09   End Date : 7 Oct 09 Location: Mombasa, Kenya

In Mombasa, Councillor Maimuna Salim, the Chairperson of the Environmental Committee, launched the Mombasa City Climate Change initiative on behalf of the Mayor, Councillor Ahmed A. Mohdhar. The launch was attended by the Town Clerk Tubman Otieno, civic leaders, heads of department, members of the civil society, and the media.

In her speech, Councillor Salim stated that the council acknowledges the vulnerability of Mombasa as a coastal town to the impacts of Climate Change and appreciates the need to initiate action to mitigate and adapt to global and local changes.

Speaking on behalf of UN-HABITAT, Mr. David Kithakye of the Regional Office for Africa and Arab States, stated that Climate Change is a local issue, and called upon the council to mainstream adaptation and mitigation measures into all council programmes in order to build up the resilience of the coastal town.

UN-HABITAT's Ms. Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga, the Project Manager of the Mombasa initiative, stated that Mombasa was selected to participate in the programme due to its increased vulnerability as a Coastal city. As such she called on the participants and stakeholders to embrace the initiative as an initial important step towards contributing the local voices to the policy dialogue that will culminate in a post-Kyoto Climate Change framework that will be elaborated at the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009.