Climate Departure Hits Nairobi

Is Nairobi developing fast to its destruction? The Economist Intelligence Unit (EUI) study  revealed Nairobi will be one of the fastest growing cities in the world by 2016. The EUI study ranked Nairobi, 50th position in the battle of the world’s largest cities based on quality of human capital. Johannesburg was 53rd in this category while Tokyo and Beijing trailed in the 56th position. Recently, the green city in the sun was ranked by MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index as 4th most popular city in Africa. And now Nairobi positions itself third to Cape Town, South Africa and Accra, Ghana as best city in Africa to live in.

Listening to climate scientists you will shed tears about Nairobi. The conversation on “climate departure” as a way of measuring  climate change will really change things in global cities. Climate departure will happen when average temperatures of a city become so impacted by climate change that the old climate is overtaken by new climate. Nairobi in Africa is among many cities that are projected to hit it very soon, by 2036.

Courtesy of Leonard Bernstein and Gene Thorp/The Washington Post

The scientific journal Nature graphics’ indicates that dark red dots cities are to hit climate departure by tomorrow. Nairobi, a city of nearly 4.5 million people will experience the climate departure point by 2036. Thereafter, the city’s coldest year will still be hotter than any year from before 2005. Put another way, every single year after 2036 will be hotter than Nairobi’s hottest year on record from 1860 to 2005. It comes second to Lagos in Africa which has got only 16 years before it hits climate departure.

The half-full glass story is where cities mitigate climate change effect and prolong the global “climate departure” from 2047 to 2069. Twelve more years to experience old climate. Nairobi will then hit “climate departure” by 2058. Although it will still place Nairobi third behind Lagos and Pretoria.

Courtesy of Leonard Bernstein and Gene Thorp/The Washington Post

Nairobi Ranked Among Best Cities

 

The Kenya’s Capital City, Nairobi is taking position among the best cities and next tigers of economies on the continent. First, it was the Economist Intelligence Unit (EUI) study that revealed Nairobi will be one of the fastest growing cities in the world by 2016. The EUI defined competitiveness as a city’s ability to attract capital, business, talent and visitors. Nairobi battled off some of the world’s largest cities to come in at the 50th position for the quality of human capital. Johannesburg was 53rd in this category while Tokyo and Beijing trailed in the 56th position.

Now, the 2012 MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index, ranks Nairobi – the green city in the sun, as one of the most popular destination city in Africa. According to the Index, Nairobi which is the Commercial hub of Kenya is projected to be visited by an estimated 1.8 million tourists in 2012  injecting  an estimated $1.5 billion an equivalent of Kshs.170billion  into the city’s economy. It translates into a 10% growth in visitor numbers and a 16.7% growth in visitor spending over the 2011 Index results.

Nairobi ranks fourth out of 13 cities surveyed in Africa – both in terms of visitor numbers and visitor spend – highlighting its status as the financial heart of the East African region and a significant African economic hub. Further, the noteworthy 16.7% growth in projected visitor spending for Nairobi sees the city ranked in 10th position globally among the fastest growing destination cities examined in the Index.

The MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index ranks 132 global cities by their total international visitor and their cross-border spending in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth projections for this year. Besides Nairobi other Best African Cities ranked among the thirteen top destinations include Accra, Cairo, Johannesburg, Casablanca, Beira, Cape Town, Dakar, Durban, Kampala, Lagos, Maputo, and Tunis.