| dc.description.abstract | The worsemng impacts of climate change 1S a result of global warnung prompted the
international community to seek appropriate responses to stem rising concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Consequently, the United Nations adopted the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in May 1992 and the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997. These agreements sought, inter alia, to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at
1990levels by 2012 and in addition set up flexible market oriented mechanisms for ensuring low
costs in emissions' reduction. These include the Emission Trading, Joint Implementation and
CleanDevelopment Mechanism (CDM).
The CDM supports projects carried out by proponents from developed countries in the
developing world in order to obtain tradeable carbon credits which can be sold to industries (in
the former) that are unable to meet statutory green houses gas emission limits. The CDM is (lOW
a multi-billion dollar carbon trade scheme which is expected to generate investment m
developing countries, especially from the private sector and promote the transfer of
environmentally-friendly technologies. Kenya is a state party to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto
Protocol. As a developing country, Kenya also qualifies to benefit from CDM processes and has
witnessed a steady rise in investments linked to the carbon trade. Kenya has already designated
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) as the national CDM regulatory body.
This study sought to inquire into the extent to which the municipal regulatory framework on
carbon trade is in line with the international climate change regime and the concept of
sustainable development, with a view to formulating the appropriate legal and policy proposals
for reform. The study found that in spite of efforts to ensure compliance with international
standards, the current regulatory framework, a, evinced by the NEMA Guidelines on CDM, is
of doubtful legal validity from the Kelsenian theoretical point of view. The Guidelines
contradict recent changes in the international climate change legal regime as well as the concept
of climate justice. The Sustainable Development Criteria developed by NEMA to assess CDM
projects is inconclusive, anchored on outdated policy basis and relies on a vague definition of
the concept of sustainable development. The study also analysed the forestry and energy sectoral
policy and legal regimes that are linked to carbon trade and found them to have significantly
integrated principles of sustainable development, thus enhancing their compatibility with the
international regulatory framework of carbon trade. | en |
