Ghana has joined a group of twenty (20) countries globally that are most vulnerable to climate change.
This comes on the backdrop of rising temperature of up to two per cent in the last few years in Ghana, and the associated erratic rainfall pattern punctuated by spells of droughts and flooding, making the country highly susceptible to the effects of climate change.
Otherwise known as V20, the group’s membership includes some of the world’s smallest and poorest countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, the Maldives, Nepal, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
V20 is a counterpoint to the G20 group of leading industrialised and emerging economies with the objective to raise and manage climate funds, create a public-private “climate risk pooling mechanism,” – insurance fund for extreme weather events and disasters.
Experts have, therefore, hailed Ghana’s decision to join the vulnerable group since it presents the country with a chance to begin to take pragmatic steps to reverse the climate change.
According to National Coordinator, Global Environment Facility at UNDP, Mr. George Ortsin, Ghana’s V20 membership will help her to draw on climate funds to manage the environment in such a way that it will be able to mitigate some of the effects of the phenomenon.
“It also imposes on the country the need for an effective management of the environment,” he added.
Mr. Ortsin was speaking in Accra last Friday, October 9, 2015 at a forum to mark the Global Days To Reclaim Power, organised by Friends of the Earth- Ghana in collaboration with Corporate Accountability International.
Simply called Reclaim Power, it is a global convergence of efforts to raise the urgency of transforming energy systems at the local, national and global levels and assert demands for clean, safe energy.
Reclaim Power week of action 9-10 October, was used to rally support against dirty and harmful energy as well as encourage countries to work to create energy systems that make energy accessible to all without further damaging the climate.
Among the actions demanded from governments around the world, is a ban on new dirty energy projects, end government subsidies and public hand-outs to dirty energy companies.
The Reclaim Power also wants a stop to excessive energy consumption by corporations and global elites.
Other demands include ensuring universal access to energy, funding clean public and community owned energy as soon as possible, and divesting from fossil fuels.
The UNDP official stated that climate change was caused by human induced activities such as burning which releases obnoxious gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane among others into the atmosphere thereby altering the greenhouse gases.
He said the effects of climate change were already being experienced in the country citing frequent flooding, heavy rainfall, drought and drop in crop yield etc.
According to him, agriculture has been the recipient of the negative impact of climate change saying rainfall patterns have changed resulting in crop yield reduction by 7%.
He also mentioned reduction in availability of water and its related effects not only on agriculture but also on energy, health and sanitation.
Mr. Ortsin contended that filth in the cities, especially in Accra, was increasing not necessarily because of increase in human population but rather the lack of rainfall which usually washes away the filth.
“Availability of timber has also reduced, Ghana is importing logs from Gabon, Cameroon etc., whiles energy supply levels have also gone down,” he emphasised.
He said the Akosombo dam which hitherto supplied 60% of the country’s electricity had to shut down some turbines because of sharp drop in water levels.
And hinted that sea level has increased by 5.8 centimetres declaring that the sea level is expected to go up to 16.5 by 2050.
He said impact of climate change on our social lives has been manifested through the frequent floods.
“The intensity of rainfall now is heavier than it used to be,” he explained, saying if it rains for one hour these days, it is like it has rained for one week because of the volume of water that pours in a short span.
Mr. Ortsin averred that due to the lack of enough drainage system to carry away the excess water, it results in flooding like it happened last Friday after two hours of heavy down pour in the national capital, Accra.
To mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, Mr. Ortsin called for minimal fossil fuel burning, waste burning, excessive logging, surface mining and other activities that damage the environment.
He further suggested the need to move from over reliance on thermal power sources to more sustainable and environment friendly energy sources such as solar, wind etc.
Mr. Ortsin said government should spearhead massive tree planting exercise to absorb the quantity of CO2 released in the atmosphere through human activities.
He also highlighted the need to seek traditional knowledge which the ancestors relied upon to protect the environment.
Elsewhere, Philippine Finance Minister, Cesar Purisima, said in the absence of an effective global response, annual economic losses due to climate change are projected to exceed $400 billion by 2030 for the V20.
The V20’s inaugural chair spoke last Thursday in Lima,Peru when Finance Ministers of V20 nations launched the group to pool resources for their fight against the impact of global warming.
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