Last weekend, hundreds of runners gathered in Kitui for the inaugural Kitui Green Run, Kenya’s first climate-conscious half-marathon built around a simple but powerful idea: turning every kilometre run into support for water resilience in dryland communities.
At first glance, it may have appeared like another sporting event on Kenya’s athletics calendar, but the marathon reflected something much deeper about Kenya’s climate future, particularly for arid and semi-arid lands (Asals), which cover more than 80 percent of the country’s landmass and support nearly 40 percent of the population. Kitui sits firmly within this fragile ecological zone.
For years, the county has faced recurring droughts, failed rainfall seasons, water scarcity, and declining agricultural productivity. Climate change has only intensified these pressures. According to the National Drought Management Authority, drought cycles in Asal counties continue to threaten livelihoods, food systems, and local economies, with millions periodically requiring humanitarian support.
It is, therefore, significant that the Kitui Green Run comes just weeks before Kenya hosts the 2026 global observance of Desertification and Drought Day under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
The event will place global attention on land degradation, drought resilience, and dryland restoration, issues that communities in Kitui understand through lived experience.
The relevance of the marathon lies not simply in athletics, but in what it symbolised.
Organised by Green Africa Group and sanctioned by Athletics Kenya, the initiative linked sport directly to water stewardship and climate adaptation. Importantly, it also reflected the growing role county governments must play in local climate resilience.
Kitui County should position climate adaptation, water access, and environmental restoration as central development priorities where livelihoods remain heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture and livestock production.
That conversation is becoming more urgent nationally.
Kenya has made notable progress in climate policy through national commitments on landscape restoration and drought resilience. Yet for dryland communities, adaptation is rarely abstract. It is about practical questions: Where will water come from? How do communities harvest rain more effectively? How do counties prepare for longer and harsher drought cycles?
During the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi last year, Kenya sponsored resolutions that highlighted the role of sport in advancing environmental sustainability and climate awareness.
This marathon demonstrated how sports can become a platform for environmental awareness and public mobilisation. By combining athletics, youth engagement, water awareness, and community participation, Kitui introduced a model that other Asal counties could learn from.
Asals are often framed through crisis narratives of drought and aid dependency. Yet they are also landscapes of innovation, resilience, culture, and economic potential. As Kenya prepares to host the world for Desertification and Drought Day, Kitui offers an important reminder: climate action becomes meaningful when communities can participate in it and directly benefit from it.
The writer is a climate action enthusiast and a communications specialist at Windward Communications Consultancy.
