KENYA LAUNCHES GLOBAL TRIPLE C CLIMATE CHANGE CAMPAIGN CHAMPIONING CHILDREN AND CONVERSATION

 

Children participate in a climate learning session during the launch of the Triple C Campaign at the Kenya Meteorological Department in Nairobi.

By: Gladys K

Kenya has stepped onto the global stage of climate action with the launch of the Triple C Campaign a new movement connecting Children, Climate, and Conservation during a colourful event at the Kenya Meteorological Department (Kenya Met). The launch, held on World Children’s Day, brought together school children, scientists, environmental groups, teachers, and climate advocates united by one message: children must be at the center of climate change solutions.

The global campaign is being driven in Kenya by two leading organizations, the Africa Community of Planetary Partners for Health and Environment (ACOPPHE) and the African Coalition of Communities Responsive to Climate Change (ACCRCC). They are part of a wider international rollout taking place simultaneously in Brazil and Nigeria, making Kenya one of the key African countries shaping the direction of this expanding climate movement.

At Kenya Met, children performed poems, planted symbolic seedlings, and interacted with climate experts who explained how weather patterns, extreme heat, and environmental degradation are already reshaping childhood experiences across the country. Their presence reinforced the campaign’s central idea: that the climate crisis is not only about global temperatures and emissions, but also about the safety, health, and future of young people.

“This campaign positions children as the heartbeat of climate action,” said Dr. Juliet Mwangi, Executive Director of ACOPPHE. “When we protect their health, we protect our planet and when we safeguard the planet, we secure their future. The Triple C Campaign brings these truths together in a powerful way.”

The launch comes at a critical moment. As droughts, erratic rainfall, flooding, food insecurity, and rising temperatures continue to affect households across Kenya, experts warn that children remain the most vulnerable. Climate change is now considered not only an environmental threat but also a health and developmental crisis. Organizers say the campaign was deliberately launched on World Children’s Day to highlight the urgent need to align environmental protection with children’s rights and well-being.

The Triple C Campaign is unfolding across multiple continents. In Brazil, it is being presented at the Children and Youth Pavilion during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) in Belém. In Nigeria, ACCRCC and partner organizations are hosting environmental health forums and teacher trainings focused on climate resilience in schools. In Kenya, the community launch marks the beginning of a year-long program that will expand into schools, churches, local climate clubs, and community networks.

For the past month, ACOPPHE and its Nigerian partner CHEST have convened weekly virtual meetings with organizations from Africa, South America, and the diaspora to build a unified global strategy. These efforts have birthed a new advocacy platform the HCCC (Health, Children, Climate, Conservation) Coalition, also known as H Triple C which will guide coordinated international messaging and research-based interventions.

The campaign’s theme for 2025–2026, “Healthy Children, Healthy Climate, Healthy Environment,” captures the connection between planetary well-being and child health. According to ACCRCC, climate change is affecting children’s emotional, psychological, and physical health, with increased exposure to heat stress, climate anxiety, disrupted schooling, and nutritional risks.

“Climate change is not just an environmental crisis it is a psychological and developmental one,” said Dr. Peter Korir, Programs Lead at ACCRCC. “Children are facing new stresses that demand new forms of protection. The Triple C Campaign prepares families, teachers, and communities to respond with resilience.”

ACOPPHE, known for its national environmental education programs and tree-planting campaigns, will amplify Triple C messaging at global forums, including the upcoming HEARTS4Climate International Conference at Maasai Mara University in 2025. ACCRCC, meanwhile, will continue embedding mental health, community resilience, and conflict-prevention strategies within climate adaptation programs.

Throughout 2025 and 2026, the Triple C Campaign will roll out school-based conservation activities, climate clubs, teacher training workshops, child-centered climate education tools, community dialogues, and international advocacy sessions. The campaign is expected to build a strong African-led voice on climate and child welfare.

Organizers closed with a message that echoed across the gathering: this is not the launch of a project  it is the beginning of a movement.

“We want children to inherit not just a habitable world, but a thriving one,” Dr. Mwangi said. “And that work begins