In a significant step towards future-proofing its urban centers, the Government of Kenya has entered a strategic partnership with UN-Habitat to launch a comprehensive project aimed at building climate resilience in fast-growing cities. The initiative, formally titled the Kenya Urban Resilience Programme, will initially focus on five secondary cities—Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, and Thika—which face escalating threats from flooding, heat stress, and water scarcity driven by climate change. The partnership signifies a critical shift from ad-hoc disaster response to proactive, integrated urban planning, aiming to embed climate adaptation into the very fabric of city management and development to protect millions of urban residents and safeguard economic hubs.
The project’s framework is built on three interconnected pillars: upgrading informal settlements, enhancing natural buffers, and reinforcing critical infrastructure. A key component involves investing in nature-based solutions, such as restoring urban wetlands and mangrove forests in Mombasa to act as natural sponges for floodwaters and creating green corridors and parks in Nakuru and Eldoret to mitigate the urban heat island effect. Simultaneously, the program will support the implementation of improved drainage systems in flood-prone informal settlements and promote the use of climate-appropriate building codes for new construction. This holistic approach ensures that resilience-building efforts address both the vulnerabilities of the most marginalized populations and the functionality of city-wide systems.
The long-term success of this ambitious partnership hinges on building local capacity and securing sustained investment. The program includes a major component for training county government officials in climate-resilient urban planning and public finance, ensuring that the principles of adaptation continue to guide development long after the project concludes. By creating demonstrable models of resilient urban development in these five cities, Kenya aims to establish a national blueprint that can be replicated across all its 47 counties. This collaboration with UN-Habitat not only provides crucial technical expertise but also positions Kenyan cities to access global climate finance, marking a transformative commitment to creating urban environments that are not only engines of economic growth but also safe havens from the escalating impacts of climate change.