Partnership with communities can make climate action count

As Kenya joined the world in marking World Environment Day 2026, it became clear that the conversation around climate action must move beyond commitments and targets to a more important question: What solutions are delivering meaningful and lasting impact on the ground?

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Across the globe, countries are experiencing more frequent floods, droughts, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events. Kenya has not been spared. From prolonged droughts affecting food security to devastating floods that have displaced families and destroyed infrastructure, the effects of climate change are increasingly visible in our daily lives.

While the urgency of the challenge is clear, what is less clear is how to ensure climate interventions create lasting environmental and social impact.

Kenya has made significant progress in advancing its environmental agenda. The ban on plastic carrier bags, significant investments in renewable energy generation, promotion of electric mobility, and the ambitious national target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032 all demonstrate a growing commitment to environmental sustainability.

Yet experience increasingly shows that environmental conservation cannot succeed through policy interventions alone. The most successful initiatives are those that place communities at the centre of climate action and create tangible economic incentives for protecting the environment. The United Nations (UN) estimates that indigenous peoples and local communities safeguard approximately 80 per cent of the world's remaining biodiversity, highlighting the critical role of community stewardship in environmental protection.

Simply put, people are more likely to conserve natural resources when conservation improves their quality of life. This is where partnerships between the private sector and local communities can make a meaningful difference.

The experience of Jomvu Kuu in Mombasa County offers an important lesson. For years, many households in the area relied on firewood and charcoal as their primary source of energy, placing significant pressure on surrounding ecosystems. While environmental restoration efforts were important, long-term success depended on addressing the economic realities that drove environmental degradation in the first place.

Recognising this, Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and the KPC Foundation adopted a more integrated approach that combined ecosystem restoration with livelihood support, clean energy access and community empowerment.

Today, women who once cut mangroves now guard them. A creek that was losing its mangroves is now thickening with saplings. Over the past few years, KPC has worked with the local community to plant 1,210,020 mangrove trees on 100 hectares at Jomvu Creek. The site was adopted for restoration of mangrove forest in liaison with Bidii Creek Conservation Group among other community forest users’ associations. This year, KPC is collaborating with the National Environment Management Authority and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to plant 20,000 trees in Kilifi and Mombasa in partnership with local communities to commemorate World Environment Day in support of coastal ecosystem restoration. KPC as part of this restoration journey since 2017 has cumulatively planted 2,115, 263 seedlings of terrestrial seedlings in Narasha Forest, Baringo County, fruits seedling in our stations and mangrove at Jomvu Kuu forest, Mombasa County. This impressive achievement was attained with support of many partners including Mama Doing Good, Equity Bank Foundation, KFS and local communities.

Beyond restoring degraded ecosystems, local youth and women have been supported to participate in alternative income-generating activities such as beekeeping and aquaculture. These initiatives provide sustainable livelihoods while encouraging communities to become active custodians of the natural resources on which they depend.

At the same time, clean cooking initiatives such as the distribution of LPG cylinders have enabled vulnerable households to transition away from traditional fuels, reducing pressure on local ecosystems while improving household health outcomes. Investments in renewable energy-powered infrastructure are also helping local communities reduce post-harvest losses, increase incomes, and build resilience.

The significance of these interventions lies not in any single project, but in the broader lesson they offer. Too often, environmental programmes measure success by the number of trees planted, the hectares restored, or the funds invested. While these metrics are important, they do not tell the whole story. The true measure of success is whether communities have both the capacity and the incentive to protect the environment long after a project has ended.

A tree planted where communities continue to depend on unsustainable sources of income may struggle to survive. A tree planted within a community that benefits economically from conservation has a far greater chance of thriving.

This is why climate action must increasingly focus on integrated solutions that link environmental protection with economic opportunity. Conservation and development should not be viewed as competing priorities. When designed effectively, they reinforce each other.

The challenge facing Kenya today is not simply whether we can plant more trees or launch more environmental campaigns. The challenge is whether we can build models that ensure these efforts are sustainable, scalable, and owned by the communities they are intended to benefit.

As the country works towards achieving its climate and environmental goals, there is a growing opportunity for businesses, development partners, government agencies and communities to work together in creating solutions that protect ecosystems while improving livelihoods.

The environmental challenges facing Kenya require collective action. Whether through adopting cleaner energy solutions, restoring degraded landscapes, investing in renewable energy, reducing waste, or supporting climate-smart livelihoods, every stakeholder has a role to play.

Ultimately, the most effective climate solutions are those that make environmental stewardship beneficial to the people tasked with protecting it. When communities prosper because ecosystems thrive, conservation becomes self-sustaining.

That is how climate action moves from commitment to impact.