Ghanaians need to be aware about climate change
“Earthly things have changed and it is because we have started
cutting down trees everywhere,” said middle-aged Lariba Mohammed, a
vegetable farmer near Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region, 658 km
North of the Ghanaian capital Accra.
Lariba, a mother of five children, is only one of the speakers at a
community meeting on the declining rains that had affected agricultural
production in the North part of the West African country.
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In Agbogbloshie, a slum in Accra, the capital of Ghana,
adults and children tear away at computers from abroad to
get at the precious metals inside. Left, David Akore, 18,
and other foragers. At the dump, the machines are dismantled
and often burned to extract metals for resale. The equipment
in this digital cemetery come mainly from Europe and the
United States, sometimes as secondhand donations meant to
reduce the 'digital divide' — the disparity in computer
access between poor nations and the rich. Courtesy: New York
Times |
The declining railfalls led to reduction of yields and, as such,
lives of the farming communities in North Ghana have not been improved,
rather getting worse.
Experts said that Northern Ghana, which covers 40 percent of the
landmarks of the country, was hit the hardest by climate change.
With seven out of 10 residents living below the poverty line, North
Ghana also have been challenged by tribal violences, land and religious
conflicts, high illiteracy rate, uncontrolled migration among the youth,
hunger and disease, under deprivation and ignorance.
Food, nutrition and income securities have also been faced by most
households, with women, the disabled and children being the most
affected by such poverty situations which may affect the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Indeed the issue of climate change, which is number one casual factor
affecting agricultural production, has come to stay and may get worse if
nothing concrete is done to arrest the situation.
Climate change affects more than just a change in the weather, it
refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time.
These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural
ecosystems and the human economies and cultures that depend on them.
Because so many systems are tied to climate, a change in climate can
affect many related aspects of where and how people, plants and animals
live, such as food production, availability and use of water and health
risks.
Short-term climate variation is normal, but longer-term trends
indicate a changing climate. A year or two of an extreme change in
temperature or other condition doesn't mean a climate change trend has
been 'erased.'
Climate negotiators at the just-ended UN Climate Summit in Durban,
South Africa made progress in setting up an advisory body on adaptation
and also agreed to the establishment of the Green Climate Fund to aid
developing countries.
Abu Iddrisu, manager of the Northern Regional Environmental
Protection Agency, told Xinhua in an interview that there was the need
to built understanding of how climate change was affecting livelihoods
in target communities and how these risks might evolve in the future.
He said there was the need to support community members, local
non-government organizations and government authorities to integrate
this knowledge into development planning. “Awareness Projects should
focused first at the community level, facilitating a participatory
planning process to yield community action plans to reduce vulnerability
to climate change,” he said.
The initiative should include the identification of priority actions
such as tree planting, establishment of early warning systems for
droughts and floods and adoption of agricultural practices that conserve
soil moisture and nutrients, he added.
Xinhua |
