Time to act on climate change is now

The World Bank has supported the country with over $4.8 million for reducing deforestation and forest degradation emissions, commonly known as REDD+.

The World Bank Trust Fund paid the money as a reward for the effort of the country in reducing 972,456 tonnes of carbon emissions under the first monitoring period of the programme, which ran from June to December 2019.

Ghana, thus, becomes the second African country, after Mozambique, to receive the money from the global fund.

The payment is under the multilateral lender’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), a global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society and indigenous people’s organisations focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

The money will go a long way in reducing carbon emissions.

This is because Ghana has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa — over three per cent.

The World Bank estimates that at least one million more people could fall into poverty due to climate shocks if urgent climate actions are not taken.

Income could reduce by up to 40 per cent for poor households by 2050.

Gleaning from the statistics, Ghana’s economic and human development is vulnerable to climate change.

On average, flooding affects around 45,000 Ghanaians every year, and half of the country’s coastline is vulnerable to erosion and flooding as a result of sea-level rise.

The Daily Graphic holds the view that climate change presents a significant threat to the well-being of mankind, and it is driven by the ever-increasing quantity of green house gases being emitted into the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources.

With the current rate of deforestation and forest degradation, the country’s forest resources face pressure from mining, agricultural encroachment, wildfires and poaching.

The country’s economic growth and achievements have come at a significant cost to its forests, having lost over 60 per cent of its forest cover from 1950 to the turn of the last century (2.7 million hectares).

Considering the current deforestation rate of approximately three per cent per year (135,000 hectares per year), the future of our forests is an issue of major concern.

That is why the introduction of monetary incentives to encourage practices that result in reduced carbon emissions can help fight poverty, while conserving biodiversity and sustaining vital ecosystem services.

The analysis calls for pursuing a development pathway that builds resilience to climate change and fosters a transition to low-carbon growth through a combination of policies and public and private investments.

Fortunately, the solution can be found in the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP).

It is the world's first commodity-based emission reduction programme to reduce emissions driven by deforestation and forest degradation, while improving smallholder farmers' livelihoods through substantial yield increases and other benefit-sharing arrangements.

There are indications that as a result of the support from the World Bank and the international REDD+ finance, key steps have been taken to ensure that Ghana is on track to realising future environmental impacts.

For us to achieve a reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the next few years, the country must preserve its forests in order to sustain its ecosystem, conserve biological diversity and maintain a cultural heritage for generations to come.

We will also need to transform the country’s major agricultural commodities and non-timber forest products into climate-smart production systems and landscapes.

Given that climate change poses a myriad of threats to the country as a result of projected increases in temperature and changes in rainfall patterns, the effort to mitigate and adapt to climate change should be of paramount importance to all Ghanaians; and the time to act is now, not later.

Without prompt actions, higher temperatures and heat stress will affect crop and labour productivity, while more erratic rainfall patterns will damage buildings and infrastructure.

Land degradation, water insecurity and local air pollution will also hamper human capital and productivity.