Munene, the journey...

We need to cut other people some slack. I need to.  Everyone's struggling in their own way. They are. To judge others, is to miss out on who they are. It is. To refuse to be empathetic is to disregard our humanity. It is. Especially when they are loud, obnoxious and annoying. They are. That's when they need our love the most. They do. And by loving them, and being kind, we render our hearts open. We do. And when our hearts open, we love more fully. We do. And when we love more fully, we truly live. We do. Where love abounds, joy follows too. It does. And where joy is, contentment and peace is there too. It is.

Kenyans are growing tired of empty promises by their leaders. We elect representatives and executives, who then turn their backs on us. They no longer represent what we want as a people. They take us for granted. And so they take us for a ride. They rob the country and bleed it dry. Of course politicians will not pay for their sins. No, we do not have a system that punishes corruption in political power. The three arms of government are in constant quarrel as our country is mortgaged to the highest bidders. Oil exploration blocks are decided while we fight about whether or not Miguna Miguna should be allowed back into the country. In the midst of election petitions, it emerges that the IMF representatives have been in cahoots with the Treasury and Central Bank to doctor records and basically misrepresent the state of the economy. Regardless, of what it is, Kenyans are angry. So, should we take up arms? Should we resort to violence? Should we arm ourselves and eliminate all thos...

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU   Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po...

Got up at 8.30 and had breakfast from 9am. I then went to my room and packed up. Afterwards, I checked out of the room and left my bags at the front desk. Wardah and I then went to Sarinah Mall to get some souvenirs. The 5th floor of the Sarinah Mall has a lot of souvenirs: masks, carvings of gods, paintings, mugs, musical instruments like gamelan and bamboo pipes, carvings of animals, fridge magnets etc. this is an excellent place to buy souvenirs. I intended to go to the National Museum, but I was tired from walking around in the Mall. So I sat in the restaurant downstairs and worked on my blog. Later I had ramen chicken curry at the Food Court in Sarinah Mall. It was approaching the hour of 6pm, so we paid for our cab to the airport. We left Artotel at 6.15pm and we were in terminal 2 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 7pm. Unfortunately, we could not check in immediately, so we waited till 9pm for check-in to be available. We checked in, and went through security. ...

Our day began at 12pm when we drove to the School of Business and Management. We met with Heru Prasetyo who used to work for REDD+. He made a presentation about his work at REDD+. He seemed very knowledgeable about the topic of managing forestry, but he was cynical about the politics of land and forestry management. The bickering between the merged Ministries of Forestry and Environment Missed opportunities by the government when REDD+ was disbanded Funding tied to REDD+ deliverables from the Norwegian government lost due to lack of structure in how the money would be channeled in the government of Indonesia We left at 3pm for Artotel. When we got to the hotel, I napped for an hour. We left for Tugu Restaurant at 5.50pm. A Bali restaurant, it had all the features of Bali: huge carved figures, gamelan music, offerings in front of entrances etc. The dinner was awesome. The most remarkable parts of it included a Balinese dance. It brought back all t...

Directorate General of Climate Change We began our day at 9am, with a drive to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to meet with Indonesia's lead climate change negotiator. Directorates of Mapping, Climate Change 2020: 26% emission reduction (unconditional); 41% with international support Forestry Rehabilitation of degraded lands Peatlands restoration Social forestry includes REDD+ and non-REDD+ National registry systems on climate change: by 2020 Provides data and info to the public about actions Currently voluntary, but will be mandatory by 2020 Verification: ???? How is that Fugitive energy emission: from transmission Achievement so far Little assistance in form of grants; so it's difficult Not achievable by 2030 We met fellows of the Thamrin City located in the Sarinah Mall

We met the Special Envoy to the President on Climate Change. We discussed Indonesia's international obligations on climate change, and what they were doing about it. Some of the issues raised included Role of the subnational governments in the formulation and implementation of climate change policy i.e. they should be a part of the conversation; as should private sector, academics, universities and research institutions Climate change + development goals (SDGs): adaptation; mainstreaming development goals; national adaptation plan EcoMosque Program: received awards; save water, energy and proper waste management Youth want to be taken seriously in the conversation about climate change Blue carbon: marine ecosystem conversation Enforcement of climate change not popular because it feels like punishment Need to find the middle way between development and conservation Afterwards, we went to WRI where we met Pak Koni who...