Abantu, partners to raise funds for climate change

A one-day stakeholders workshop on ways to mobilise funds to mitigate the effects of climate change took place in Accra last Tuesday.

The meeting was organised by a non-governmental organisation, Abantu for Development, in collaboration with Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM), a global non-governmental organisation, and the Gender Action on Climate Change for Equality and Sustainability (GACCES).

The workshop was aimed at building consensus between the government and its development partners on increasing the levels of support and funding for climate change activities.

Additionally, the meeting advocated the establishment of a Climate Adaptation Fund (CAF) since climate change affected seven economic sectors including water, agriculture, forestry, energy, gender and vulnerable communities.

It was attended by representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) and some civil society groups in the country.

Climate change

The Principal Programmes Officer of the EPA, Mr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, said his outfit was making a conscious effort to partner with relevant interest groups to mobilise resources to address problems of climate change in the country.

He said climate change affected sectors such as agriculture, health, energy, infrastructure and water making it necessary for resources to be mobilised to address problems associated with the phenomenon.

He called for a strong collaboration among key stakeholders in addressing changes in the weather, unpredictable rainfall patterns and extreme weather conditions such as windstorms.

“Out of a budget of $22.4 billion, the government has been able to raise only $1.6 billion, which is not enough to address the problems. We need additional investments from the private sector and partners,” he said.

Seek knowledge

For her part, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin of Abantu for Development advised the youth to be proactive in seeking knowledge about climate change issues as the issue affected everyone.

She said the responsibility of the organisation as human right activists was to put pressure on the government to improve its performance and for society to strengthen their own capacities by engaging actively with policy makers on issues of climate change financing.

Participants

Participants in the meeting suggested that the youth must be involved in discussions on climate change.

They were of the view that the involvement of the youth would equip them with the requisite knowledge to move advocacy on climate change forward.