Climate change will retard Ghana’s development gains if not tackled

Mr. Samuel Dotse

The Chief Executive Officer of HATOF Foundation and the Country Coordinator of Climate Action Network-Ghana, Mr. Samuel Dotse, has expressed concerns about climate change which he says is severely impacting Ghana and continues to threaten economic growth and livelihoods of vulnerable populations across the country.

He indicated that if the national action plans put forward by government are not timely and adequately implemented to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, the country’s economy will suffer growth.

“If we fail in the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions, it is likely to retard our developmental gains and hinder our quest to becoming a fully-fledged middle income country”. He warned

According to Mr. Dotse, “climate change is now a development issue that must be tackled from the development perspective”.

With the evidence of impact such as drought, deforestation and biodiversity loss, sea-level rise, floods, erratic rainfall pattern, increase in temperature, and water stress, across the country, climate change affects all sectors of the economy including agriculture, health, energy, transport, water, and forestry therefore actions plans put forward in Ghana’s Nationally determined Contributions, as our commitment to undertaking climate actions must be carried out not under business as usual conditions,” he said

Speaking at the press briefing organised by Climate Action Network-Ghana on Friday in  Accra,in the lead up to the Africa Climate Week Scheduled from March 18-22, 2019 in Ghana, Mr. Dotse called on the media to join in the Campaign for ambitious climate action to promote equity and social justice between peoples, sustainable development of all communities, and protection of the environment.

Mr. Dotse further announced the Network’s commitment to support the government of Ghana in its domestic and international resource mobilization strategy for the implementation of the national action plans, as well as inspire business, community, and individual actions to achieve Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions.

Climate Action Network-Ghana is a network of individual Ghanaian civil society organisations admitted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and committed to the protection of the earth against harmful climate change caused by the constant and fast-growing emission of greenhouse gases by humans.

About the Africa Climate Week scheduled from March 18-22, 2019 in Ghana

At the press briefing, Mr. Dotse updated the media on the Africa Climate Week, while he provided background to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and how the Africa Climate Week promotes efforts to implement the Paris Agreement.

He informed that the Africa Climate Week represents the first major climate-orientated event in 2019 that aims to mobilize financial support to implement countries’ including Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and climate action to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ghana requires $22.6 billion to implement all the 31 programmes, made up of 11 adaptations and 20 mitigation programmes of action put forward in the Nationally Determined Contributions from 2020-2030. Of the $22.6 billion, $6.3 billion and $16.3 billion are expected to be mobilised from domestic and international sources respectively.

The 2019 Africa Climate Week will also act as a focal point for actors to showcase ground-breaking solutions to climate change.

It also serves as a lead-up to the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September 2019, bringing together diverse actors from the public and private sectors- to catalyse ambitious action on the ground to reduce emissions and strengthen climate resilience.

The theme for the ACW “Climate Action in Africa: A Race We Can Win” resonates with the September Summit and will focus on the following six transformational areas:

• Energy Transition
• Nature-based Solutions
• Cities and Local Actions
• Climate Actions
• Carbon Pricing
• Reducing Emissions from Industry and Building Resilience

The event has attracted over 2000 delegates including UN staffs, Scientists, Ministers, Policymakers, youth delegates, and non-Party stakeholders from businesses, community initiatives, financial institutions, and city municipalities across the globe.

The high-level segment on the morning of Wednesday, 20 March, will be formally opened by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo; Ghanaian actress and television personality, Joselyn Dumas; and COP24 President MichałKurtyka.

First Published/Citinewsroom.com

Government called upon to Collaborate with Youth to Implement Climate Actions

Participating youth in the Workshop

An on-ground consultation workshop on youth and climate change adaptation has been held among selected young people and youth organisations working on climate adaptation in Ghana last Wednesday 27 February 2019 at CSIR-STEPRI, Accra.

The one-day consultation was in support of Adapt for Our Future Project being implemented by YOUNGO - the Children and Youth Constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The project seeks to outline youth climate adaptation actions, challenges young people face and how these challenges are overcome. The outcome is expected to feed into the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) Flagship report on Adaptation to be presented at the side-lines of the upcoming UN Climate Summit in September 2019.

The consultation in Ghana gathered inputs, past experiences, and learned lessons from the participating youth brought together from research institutions, private sector, local governments and civil society organisations, working on climate adaptation at the local, national and international levels.

The consultation also had experts from climate change negotiators, private sector and the National Disaster Management Organisation who shared their experiences and engagement in climate adaptation and their involvement of youth in that regard.

Speaking at the workshop, the Principal Programme Officer from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who is also a climate change negotiator, Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah provided the youth with insight into climate change from the global perspective to government of Ghana’s adaptation measures to dealing with the impacts of climate change.

Dr. Amoah revealed that climate change adaptation and development is sometimes difficult to distinguish but indicated that climate change is not abstract and that “it is about survival… something that is telling on our living every now and then, practically every day” the reason why it required collective effort in dealing with it. Dr. Amoah also noted the absence of a policy framework on engagement of youth in climate change processes, decision making and intervention as a hindrance to effective engagement of youth in climate actions.  “The future of the country is compromised if programmes do not serve youth and youth are not involved,” he warned.

The Head of Climate Change Department, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Madam Charlotte Norman also shared the work of NADMO in dealing with the impact of climate change - like flooding, as well the organisation’s involvement of the “youth in research and innovation at the early stages” to support Ghana in its preparedness to ensure a climate resilient and climate compatible environment. She expressed her appreciation for the organisation of the workshop and asked that such collaborative workshops are often held for the youth to place themselves in identifying their roles, and opportunities for an enhanced engagement in the country’s climate change agenda.

Mr. Thomas Kankam, from Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), the umbrella body of all private sector operatives in Ghana, also presented the business case for climate change and indicated that although profit-making has been the primary objective of businesses, the private sector is gradually coming to terms with the need to prioritize environmental sustainability as businesses are not done in vacuum. He then assured the youth of their willingness to further engage them to transform ideas into action and create opportunities for future plans and programmes.

The consultation ignited passion among the youth, and promoted active thinking on how to initiate, sustain, and enhance local adaptation measures. Participants called on government to collaborate with youth and youth-led organisations to implement its Climate Change Learning Strategy, including integration of climate change into the educational curriculum.

The EPA, the national climate change focal institution was also called upon to coordinate climate actions of youth, and lead policy processes together with other relevant sector institutions such as the National Youth Authority to institutionalize engagement of youth in climate action as a requirement.

The consultation was organised by HATOF Foundation, Agorvie Youth for Sustainable Development (AY4SD) and Abibiman Foundation on behalf of YOUNGO.

First Published/Citinewsroom.com