A Plea from the ‘Eye of the Storm’

BELÉM, BRAZIL – Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Dr. Deborah Barasa, delivered one of the strongest rebukes yet to the global community on climate inaction, demanding credible finance and concrete measures at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30). Addressing delegates on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, in a city surrounded by the Amazon rainforest, she declared that Africa is already “in the eye of the storm.”

“We gather here in Belém, a city that stands as a living symbol of what humanity risks losing and what we must fight to protect,” Barasa stated, framing the Amazon as a grave reminder that time is running out. Her address articulated a unified African position: the continent, least responsible for the climate crisis, is suffering its most severe consequences.

The Local Cost of a Global Crisis

The Cabinet Secretary’s urgent appeal is grounded in Kenya’s harsh reality. The nation has been whipsawed by climate extremes, swinging from a devastating multi-year drought to catastrophic flooding. In the first half of 2024, severe floods affected 41 counties, displacing over 55,000 households and causing widespread destruction of crops and infrastructure. This followed a prolonged drought that, as of early 2025, left over 2.1 million people facing acute food insecurity. According to the World Meteorological Organization, these patterns of extreme weather are intensifying across East Africa, derailing development and threatening millions.

Barasa reiterated the African Group of Negotiators' (AGN) long-standing demand for formal recognition of the continent's “special needs and special circumstances,” arguing that global climate decisions must reflect the disproportionate impacts faced by nations like Kenya.

Finance: The Great Divide

The most pointed part of the CS’s address focused on climate finance, which she called “the defining test of global solidarity.” She warned that adaptation—the process of adjusting to the current and future effects of climate change—can no longer be treated as “the poor cousin of climate action, underfunded, vaguely defined, and perpetually delayed.”

African nations are united in calling for a clear roadmap to deliver on the climate finance goals established at previous summits, including the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) which aims to set a new target from a floor of $100 billion per year post-2025. At COP29 in Baku, a headline goal of mobilizing up to $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 was set, but African negotiators stress that the structure of this finance is critical.

Dr. Barasa’s demand for predictable, grant-based support directly confronts a troubling trend. A recent report by Oxfam highlighted that nearly two-thirds of public climate finance is delivered as loans, pushing vulnerable countries deeper into debt. For the East Africa region, rich nations have met only 4% of the estimated $41.8 billion needed annually to implement climate action plans, creating a staggering 96% funding gap.

Making Adaptation Measurable

Beyond the quantity of finance, Kenya and its African partners are pushing for accountability in its use. CS Barasa called for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), a central pillar of the Paris Agreement, to be defined with clear, measurable indicators. The GGA was established to enhance resilience and reduce vulnerability, but progress has been slow in making it operational. The ongoing UAE-Belém work programme is tasked with developing these indicators by COP30.

For Kenya, this means tangible support for resilient infrastructure, climate-smart food systems, ecosystem protection, and public health—areas all devastated by recent climate shocks. The AGN has insisted that adaptation is a global responsibility, not a burden to be shouldered by developing nations alone.

As negotiations continue in Belém until Friday, November 21, Kenya's message is unequivocal: promises and pledges are no longer sufficient. The world’s most vulnerable demand a clear commitment of new, additional, and accessible grant funding to confront a crisis they did not create.