Making commitments to protect the environment and mitigate against climate change is one thing.

However, translating those commitments into tangible action is a different ballgame altogether. The first is easy to make. The second is harder because it requires both political goodwill and investments that will create positive change.

That is why the political and corporate leaders meeting in Nairobi this week must go beyond mere rhetoric and commit to fund climate change mitigation programmes by entrenching them in their respective budgets if they are serious about demonstrating the seriousness with which they take climate change.

In the same breadth, they also ought to mobilise support at all levels, from the grassroots to the policy makers, to ensure that all players are conscious about what their actions mean for the sustainability of natural resources and for climate security.

Indeed, there is no shortage of policies that, if implemented, can have far-reaching implications for global environmental wellness.

However, there is always a disconnect between those who craft such ideas and those who implement them. As a result, action that could have mitigated the adverse effects of climate change end up not being taken because the initiators of the ideas have no way of influencing the decisions of those in positions of power and authority.

This gap needs to be addressed. It is encouraging that the government of Kenya has already reached to the youth to engage in climate action work. This is as it should be. However, we must guard against the danger of engaging them only on the eve of a great meeting. It should, instead, be standard practice.

Coupled with this, there is need for more robust public education on climate sustainability to ensure broad-based awareness and action including regular exercises such as cleaning up rivers, parks, forests, lakes and oceans to ensure that they are not hostile to flora and fauna and to also ensure that they are sustainably exploited.

Mankind has no other home. But over the last 100 years or so, mankind has exerted so much damage to the globe, probably much more than at any other time in human history. We cannot continue on this trajectory and thrive. Something must give.

What is needed now is both a mind shift to align humanity goals of progress with caring for and protecting the environment to ensure the survival of human kind.