NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Kenya's ban on plastic bags, its commitment to restore 5.1 Million hectares of land through afforestation and growth projections in the renewable energy sector are according to United Nations,  key to addressing effects of climate change and environment.

In a meeting held recently  between Kenya, United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change(UNFCCC)   the Kenyan Ministry of Environment, Kenya Forest Service (KFS), World Resources Institute (WRI), Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Greenbelt Movement, the three commitments have been singled out as adaptation and mitigation measures to move Kenya towards a low carbon climate resilient development pathway

According to the Environment Cabinet Secretary Prof Judi Wakhungu the initiatives are being undertaken by Government and private sector, to help communities cope with the impacts of climate change and develop a low carbon infrastructure.

Through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in a gazette notice number 2356, the use, manufacture, and importation of all plastics bags has been banned in Kenya.

The ban was met with uproar and rejection especially from the manufacturing sector and is the third attempt by the government since 2005 to ban polythene bags below 30 micron.

"For a long time, the country suffered greatly from the negative effects of plastic bags; which have clogged drains and rivers and contributed to floods in different parts of the country," said Ms Wakhungu adding that floods have been blamed for killing of marine and domestic animals and also being breeding grounds for malaria causing mosquito among many other ills,"

A World Economic Forum recent report said that by the year 2050 if we do not change our ways there will be more plastic bags in the ocean than fish.

"I am so excited about the ban on plastic bags and I cannot wait to see innovative solutions emerge from our optimistic and forward-thinking population of young people. Re-usable bags, though costly to produce, may be the long term solution," said Wanjira Mathai, Director, Partnerships for Women's Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER), Wangari Maathai Institute (WMI).

Ms Wakhungu also pointed out that Kenya has announced a significant commitment to restore 5.1 million hectares of land.

"This is nearly nine per cent of Kenya's total landmass and makes us the first African country to complete a national restoration opportunity assessment that informed our commitment to the Bonn Challenge and African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)," she said.

Through this initiative, Kenya is now the 13th African country to commit to bringing over 46 million hectares of land into restoration by 2030.

The various landscape restoration measures identified include reforestation and rehabilitation of degraded natural forests, agroforestry and woodlots on cropland, commercial tree and bamboo plantations and tree-based buffers along waterways, wetlands and roads.

 The national restoration commitment is an opportunity to improve soil fertility and food security, boost access to clean water, increase natural forest cover for ecosystem services, combat desertification, create green jobs, and bolster economic growth and livelihoods, while at the same time making a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation.

Mathai said the Green Belt Movement, founded by the late Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, has planted more than 51 million trees across the country, and this has helped to protect critical watersheds, restore thousands of acres of indigenous forests, and empower thousands of women and their families.

"We have a huge deficit of trees to plant, that is something we can do without spending too much," Mathai said.

Ms Wakhungu also revealed that Kenya has proposed to create such a framework through the Energy Bill, 2015 that recognizes the growth of the renewable energy sector in Kenya.

"A total of 87 per cent of Kenyans use solid fuels for cooking and five per cent use kerosene, meaning that only less than five per cent use liquified petroleum gas (LPG) as their primary cooking fuel,"

Another initiative that is promoting the use of clean cooking and lighting solutions in Kenya, is the wPOWER, an alliance of organizations that work towards empowering women to adopt the use of clean cooking stoves and solar lighting, and urging them to become clean energy entrepreneurs.

Burn Manufacturing, a cookstove manufacturing company in Kenya and a member of wPOWER has sold over 300,000 clean cookstoves, which has facilitated household savings of $63 million per year, and savings of over a million tonnes of carbondioxide.

"Kenyans have voted but there is an outcry for the incoming government to make difficult choices, not always in their short-term interest, such as putting a higher price on carbon and subsidizing renewables with unequivocal conviction," Mathai said.