Ghana needs $22.6BN to Reduce effects of Climate Change – EPA

Ghana is seeking a total amount of 22.6 billion dollars as its budget to implement her 31 national actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change from 2020 to 2030.

The country, would therefore, use the platform of the Africa Climate Week, (ACW) being hosted in the Accra from Monday to seek more partnerships to enable her implement her Nationally Determined Contributions (GH-NDCs), Dr Emanuel Techie Obeng, a Principal Programme Officer, at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said.

The theme for the ACW is: “Climate Action in Africa: A Race We Can Win”, while the NDCs are each country’s national action plans to deal with climate change challenges and help place the globe into low carbon pathway and climate resilient future.

Dr Techie Obeng, who doubles as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) National Focal Point on Climate Education, Training and Public Awareness in Ghana, said 10 billion dollars of the budgeted amount would be needed for climate change mitigation actions in the country, while 12 billion dollars would be used for adaptation actions.

Speaking at an Africa Climate Week Media Encounter Programme, organised by the Climate Action Network-Ghana in partnership with the EPA, Dr Obeng Techie said Ghana was  mobilisiing six billion dollars out of the amount from domestic sources while the 16 billion dollars would be mobilised from international sources.

He said the Gh-NDCs also covers seven economic sectors with 20 mitigation and 11 adaptation actions, involving water, agriculture, forestry, energy, gender, among others.

Dr Obeng urged the media to acquaint themselves with climate change issues so they could partner the government and other stakeholders in mobilising action that is threatening human survival.

Mr Samuel Dotse, Country Coordinator, of Climate Action Network-Ghana, a network of civil society organisations in Ghana, said the Africa Climate Week arrives in the country in the wake of the COP24 international negotiations, which concluded with the successful finalisation of the Katowice Climate Package on December 15, 2018 in Poland.

He said there is the need for Ghana to take the opportunity of the hosting the ACW to mobilise the needed support and networks to enable her implement it national actions.

Mr Dotse said the ACW would focus on the following six transformational areas on Energy Transition, Nature-based solutions, Cities and Local Actions, Climate Actions, Carbon Pricing and Reducing Emissions from Industry and Building Resilience.

He said the AWC event would attracting over 2,000 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.

Mr Dotse called on the media to join the campaign for ambitious climate actions to promote equity and social justice between peoples, sustainable development of all communities, and the protection of the environment.

“Because if we fail in the implementation of the NDCs, it is likely to retard our developmental gains and hinder our quest to becoming a fully-fledged middle-income country”, he said.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, would open the high-level segment of the ACW, on Wednesday, March 20.

Mr Michal Kurtyka, the COP24 President, would also be attending the ACW.

The Climate Action Network-Ghana is a network of civil society organisations in Ghana, admitted by the UNFCCC and committed to the protection of the earth against harmful climate change caused by the constants and fast-growing emission of greenhouse gases by humans.