Government mobilizing funds to fight Climate Change

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation,  Mahama Ayariga, has said Ghana needs $22.6 billion in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its 31 Programme of Action on climate mitigation and adaptation.

He said $6.3 billion of the amount was expected to be mobilised from domestic sources, while the remaining $16.3 billion would come from international support.

He said the implementation of the actions was expected to help attain low carbon and increase climate resilience through effective adaptation and greenhouse gas emission reduction in the seven priority sectors.

Mr Ayariga said this in a speech, read on his behalf, at a forum dubbed: “Regional Road Show on Paris Agreement”, as part of efforts by the Ministry to create awareness and sensitize the public on the Paris Agreement.

At the 21st Session of the Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parties, including Ghana, adopted a new Climate Change Agreement dubbed: “Paris Agreement”, with the aim of enhancing ambitions to reduce Green House Gas Emissions to two degrees target.

Mr Ayariga said the impact of climate change on food security and water supply could not be underestimated, hence the need for immediate actions to be taken to address the situation.

The forum, therefore, was to solicit views from traditional and religious leaders, civil society organizations and the public on how to collectively implement the Paris Agreement.

It is associated with the post 2015 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the Ghana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC).

An INDC is the Government’s proposed ‘contribution’ to the UNFCCC as to what it will do about climate change.

It contains 20 Mitigation and 11 Adaptation Programme of Actions in seven priority economic sectors for the implementation in a 10-year period, from 2020 to 2030.

It is to showcase the achievements in the various districts and communities for others to emulate and to build on such initiatives as well as getting feedback for early implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Mr Ayariga, therefore, urged the traditional leaders, industries and all stakeholders to support the fight against climate change.

He gave the assurance that the Ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be available to provide the necessary technical support to ensure that the country became climate resilient.

Mr Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, the Central Regional Minister, stated that Climate Change had a linkage with land degradation, which was one of the major environmental challenges in the Region.

For that matter, he said, the Region could not remain unconcerned about climate change programmes considering its devastating and glaring impacts and urged the stakeholders to play their respective roles in the fight against it.

The President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Obrempong Nyanful Krampa XI, said a lot of people were engaged in activities that destroyed the environment.

He, therefore, called for more specific laws and their enforcement to protect the environment.

 

Source: GNA