Nairobi, May 31 -- 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, ...