Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba and Athletics Kenya president Jack Tuwei have set the record that they are fighting to curb climate change in the sporting world.
While addressing the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt Namwamba said that Athletics Kenya is taking a leading role in the world of sports.
“As we deliberate on how to accelerate climate and air quality actions through athletics, I take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Organizers of this side event forchampioning climate and air quality actions by installing air quality sensors across the globe. In Kenya for instance, they have installed air quality sensors in five (5) sporting facilities across the Country. The data from these sensors will enable us to put in measures to control air pollution around sporting facilities to ensure that our athletes train and compete in a clean environment,” he said.
“Now more than ever, the interlinkage between sport and climate change is evident through the carbon footprint from transportation, the construction and use of sporting infrastructure and the supply chains for sporting equipment. However, while sport is regarded as a perpetrator and causality of climate change, it can play an important role in addressing the impacts of climate change,” he said.
Tuwei said that they cannot sit back and wait but address the most urgent and critical challenges and dangers, not only to the world but also to the sport of athletics.
Tuwei has told the world that as a federation, they are ready to tackle Climate change, which is a serious threat to Sports as witnessed during the recent global athletics competitions.
“We are currently delivering on the United Nations Sports for Climate Action (S4CA) Framework that we committed to as the first of the 214 World Athletics member federations in August, 2021 in Nairobi,” said Tuwei.
He said that in collaboration with International organizations such as UNEP and Stockholm Environment Institute in joint activities that include Air Quality monitoring in sports facilities, and improved waste management. For example, we have installed several Air Quality sensors in 5 of our athletics venues and stadiums in Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kapsabet.
“Sports are impacted by Climate change where global temperatures are now determining the choice of starting and finishing time of athletics events witnessed during the 2019 world championships and the 2021 Olympics. Athletes are not able to deliver their best performance level and some suffer after the events due to extreme temperature. We need to safeguard the athletes and the sport. Without action on climate change, we are in danger of losing hosting athletics activities in certain places or times impacted by rising global temperatures,” he said.
Tuwei narrated that as a federation, they will work with other World athletics member federations to curb the same.