Parliamentary caucus on Climate commends Okyeame Kwame for Climate change advocacy

Dr Emmanuel Marfo, Chairman for Parliamentary Caucus on Climate Change has applauded renowned Ghanaian rapper, Okyeame Kwame for leading advocacy on climate change in the country.

Dr Marfo made the commendation when Okyeame Kwame led school children and various Non-Governmental organisations(NGOs) on environment on a “Climate champion’s walk” to demand requisite policies that will protect the environment at Parliament yesterday, July 21.

Possibly impressed with the walk which had in attendance the Mayor of AMA, Honourable Elizabeth Sackey and UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana in attendance, Dr Marfo reiterated government’s commitment in protecting climate change and making relevant contributions to global conversations on climate change.

“We have been impressed with your walk and the message that you have sent across and the message is very clear that you are demanding climate justice. You are demanding that we stop talking and start acting well now.

“That, there should be fairness in our world so that those who are polluting and those who are emitting dangerous gas in the atmosphere affecting climate change would also be fair to us to make contributions that reflect their level of pollution.

“So we as parliament and law makers around the world have also been calling for action on climate change,” he said.

Campaigns

Since 2018, Okyeame has been leading campaigns on climate change. And this year, the onetime VGMA Artiste of the year, took the climate change awareness to Parliament to press upon our law makers to enact policies that will benefit the environment.

In his presentation, the Woso hitmaker noted that the enactment of right polices were very relevant in this crucial times when Africa including Ghana are facing the harsh consequences of climate change, when they are contributing little it.

“We know that Africans only contribute four percent to the climate problems that bedevils the world. And so, we have come here seeking for climate justice. We have here national and international media and we want the whole world to state that in Ghana, we don’t separate the conversation about the environment and climate change from the children who are here.

“So we have come here to encourage or law makes to work with the children of Ghana so that we can improve the global condition of global warming and we are not here by ourselves. This programme is being organised in partnership with the Mayor of Accra. Honorable Elizabeth Sackey, UN Residence Coordinator. We are here to seek Climate justice,” he said.

Madam Elizabeth Sackey reiterated the call for the protection of the environment noting that “when the last tree dies, the last man dies”.

Charging the leadership of the Parliamentary Caucus on Climate to take action on climate change, the Lead Organiser for Climate Ghana, Portia Adu Mensah said everyone must be mindful of how to keep the environment safe.

“God created the world and asked human beings to be care takers of the world. It is our turn to also take care of the environment including the air that we breathe which is being affected by air pollution,” she said.

The “Climate Champion Walk” and presentation to Parliament accentuated the commemoration of World Climate Emergency Day, celebrated on July 22 every year. The day was first celebrated in Ghana last year.

In marking the day, Okyeame Kwame, who is also the Climate Clock ambassador did live count down on his social media pages as the clock counted down to the 5-year deadline earlier today at 4:00pm.

The Climate clock exhibits a ‘Deadline’ counting down the time remaining to prevent global warming from rising above 1.5°C and three ‘Lifelines’ tracking progress on key solution pathways, including the percentage of the world’s energy from renewable sources, the amount of land currently protected by Indigenous peoples, and the amount of money dedicated to the Green

 This was followed by a Twitter space conversation later in the evening to include stakeholders in the ongoing climate change discussions.

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