Climate Change Education Across the Curricula, Across the GlobeLesson Plan: Climate Change Impacts in Kenya

This lesson plan provides an introduction to climate change, causes and impacts of climate change globally, climate change risk profile for Kenya that includes climate impacts on major sectors of the country such as agriculture, water resources, human health, ecosystems, energy, infrastructure, and disasters. This lesson plan also includes the current and future health risks in Kenya due to climate change. Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to teach Climate Science and Climate Change in your Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Geography classrooms.

About Lesson Plan

Grade Level	High school, Undergraduate
Discipline	Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geography
Topic(s) in Discipline	Climate Change, Global Warming Climate Change Risk Profile of Kenya Health Impacts of Climate Change
Climate Topic	Introduction to Climate Change, Climate Variability Record, Climate and Health, Climate and Agriculture, Climate Change and Food Security
Location	Africa, Kenya
Language(s)	English
Access	Online
Approximate Time Required	60 – 75 min

Contents

Reading (15 min) and Video Micro-Lectures (5-15 min)

A reading from the NASA Global Climate Change website that includes contains information about what is the scientific evidence for climate change, causes, and impacts of climate change. This can be accessed here.

Optional: A set of 7 short video micro-lectures (2-5 minutes in length) on climate change and global warming developed by the National Research Council, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. This can be accessed here.

Readings

(30 min)

A set of two readings to explain climate change and impacts in Kenya.

Reading 1 by climatelinks: A Global Knowledge Portal for Climate and Development Practitioners USAID

Reading 2 by the Climate Change Knowledge Portal of the World Bank

Reading

(15 min)

A reading by the World Health Organization on how climate change can impact human health in Kenya.

This can be accessed here.

Step-by-Step User Guide

Learning Outcomes

Questions/Assignments

Additional Resources

Credits

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

Introduction to Climate Change

Introduce to your students what is climate change and global warming using a reading from the NASA Global Climate Change website. This resource contains information about what is the scientific evidence for climate change, causes and impacts of climate change.

This can be accessed here.

Optional: You may choose to provide your students with further information about global climate change using a set of video micro-lectures. This set of 7 of short video micro-lectures (2-5 minutes in length) have been developed by the National Research Council, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

They include:
1.       What is Climate? Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 1
2.       Is Earth Warming? Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 2
3.       Greenhouse Gases. Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 3
4.       Increased Emissions. Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 4
5.       How Much Warming? Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 5
6.       Solar Influence. Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 6
7.       Natural Cycles. Climate Change, Lines of Evidence Chapter 7

This video playlist can be accessed here.

Readings ‘Climate Change in Kenya'

Use the following readings to explain climate change and climate risks in Kenya to your students.

A. First, use the factsheet Climate Change Risk Profile: Kenya from climatelinks: A Global Knowledge Portal for Climate and Development Practitioners USAID. This factsheet (5 pages) includes the climate summary, historical and future climate, impacts on major sectors such as agriculture, water resources, human health, ecosystems, energy, infrastructure, and disasters, for Kenya.

This resource can be accessed here.

B. You may wish to have your students explore climate change and its risks in Kenya in more detail through a resource from the Climate Change Knowledge Portal of the World Bank.

This resource can be accessed here.

1. Overview
2. Climate Data -Historical and Future Projections
3. Climate by Sector – Agriculture, Energy, Water, Health
4. Vulnerability
5. Climate Impacts – Agriculture, Water, Sea Level Rise
6. Adaptation

Each section contains relevant climate change information including data, projections, and visualizations. The data is visualized through interactive graphs and users can select different indices, model projections, timescales, and sectors to better understand the impacts of climate change in Kenya.

Reading: Climate Change and Human Health Impacts in Kenya

Use a reading by the World Health Organization (WHO) to stress to your students how climate change can impact human health in Kenya. This factsheet (8 pages) titled Climate Change and Health: Country Profile: Kenya includes information on climate hazard projections for Kenya and current and future health risks of climate change in Kenya. You could use this factsheet to help your students better understand what risks does climate change pose to human health in Kenya with respect to infectious disease, malaria, and undernutrition.

This resource can be accessed here.

Suggested questions/assignments for learning evaluation :

What is climate change? What are the causes of global warming?
What are the global impacts of climate change?
What are the impacts of climate change in Kenya?
How will increased temperatures impact Kenya?
How will changing weather patterns including changes in precipitation, storms, droughts impact Kenya in the future?
What are the current and future health risks due to climate change in Kenya?

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.

1	Webpage ‘Kenya’ on Climatelinks	Climate Change in Kenya specific factsheets, case studies compiled by Climatelinks, USAID
2	Reading	‘Kenya’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)’: Document submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
3	Webpage	‘INDCs as communicated by Parties*’ : UNFCCC webpage for accessing the INDCs for various nations
4	Teaching Modules;	‘Climate Change and Human Health Lesson Plans’: Educational material by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
5	Reading; Climate Change and Food Security in Kenya	Report ‘Climate Risk In Food For Peace Geographies: Kenya’ USAID

Credits and copyrights

1	Reading “The Causes of Climate Change”	By NASA’s Global Climate Change website
2	A set of videos; “Climate Change: Lines of Evidence”	Presented by National Research Council, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
3	Readings “Climate Change Risk Profile- Kenya’ and ‘Climate Change Information Fact Sheet- Kenya’	By Climatelinks: A Global Knowledge Portal for Climate and Development Practitioners, USAID By World Bank Group
4	Reading “Climate and Health Country Profile- 2015: Kenya”	By World Health Organization (WHO)
5	Additional Resources	Climatelinks, USAID UNFCCC NIEHS
6	Images	Climate Change Knowledge Portal By World Bank Group Title image: Amboseli National Reserve, Kenya https://www.planetware.com/