Acting Executive Director of the Ghana Wildlife Society, Mr Rueben Ottou, has called on government to
take the lead in ensuring that climate sensitive policies are challenged down
to district level development plans.
Mr Ottou made the call in a statement issued to
commemorate the International Day of the Earth which was on the theme: “The
Face of Climate Change”.
The Day was set aside to promote
harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic,
social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.
Mr Ottou said climate change had many faces,
which required response measures at different levels.
He commended Environmental
Protection Agency’s efforts in piloting district level climate sensitive
development planning at selected districts, but said there was the need to
scale up those efforts.
He asked the government to
strengthen climate risk management as one of the focal areas under the private
sector partnership initiatives.
According to the Acting
Executive Director, private sector initiatives in areas such as sustainable
forest management and plantation development under REDD+ programmes, and crop insurance
initiatives under various donor support programmes should be
strengthened.
Although climate change is a
natural phenomenon, human interference with the earth’s systems through
increased production of greenhouse gases has resulted in rapid changes in the
earth’s climate.
In Ghana, climate change and
variability is manifested through delay in the onset of the rainy season, less
rain-days, increasing intensity of rain resulting in floods, increasing
dry-spells and drought, sea level rise resulting in coastal erosion and
inundation.
“Many people think climate
change is a remote problem, but the fact is that it is already impacting on
people, wildlife and national economies,” Mr Ottou added.
According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by 2020, between 75 and 250 million
people in Africa, are projected to be exposed to increased water stress.
Whiles yields from rain-fed
agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent with agricultural production,
including access to food, being severely compromised.
According to the Netherlands
Climate Change Assistance Programme (NCAP) Report 2008, climate change may
increase in the incidence of tropical diseases such as meningitis, measles,
diarrhea and guinea worm, especially in the northern parts of Ghana.
The Acting Executive Director
noted that climate change was already impacting on the Ghanaian economy and
that perennial floods, drought and the extreme weather conditions had affected
agriculture, livelihoods and property.
He asked companies to consider
dedicating some of their Corporate Social Responsibilities initiatives towards
reducing the effect of climate change.
Mr. Rueben Ottou said as an
organization, Ghana Wildlife Society had been educating over 5,000 wildlife
club members on the effects of climate change and the need for individuals and
communities to take action whilst contributing to policy discussions.
The Society is also coordinating
the Ghana Climate Adaptation Network (Ghana CAN), which is a civil society
organisations platform established with support from Building Capacity to Meet
the Climate Change Challenge (B4C) Project and CARE International’s Adaptation
Learning Programme.
The network seeks to promote
effective information sharing among policy makers, researchers and
practitioners as well as promoting best adaptation practices in the
country.
