The Minister for Environment Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, and that of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe, as well as the EPA have pledged to help communities in Ghana become climate resilient.
The group intend to achieve this through awareness creation and the building of capacities of individuals to ensure that their communities stand firm in the face of changing climate situations around the globe.
They made the pledge at the 10th Board and Ministerial Meetings of the UN Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) in Brussels. Belgium.
It was a two-day meeting which commenced in Belgium on 10th May and ended on the 12th. It was hosted by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) under the auspices of the LoCAL Facility.
LoCAL is an initiative designed to deliver tangible climate change benefits to local communities across the world. It is currently being implemented in 24 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The LoCAL, designed by UNCDF, is a country-owned initiative aimed to promote green and climate–resilient local economies and communities by establishing a standard, internationally recognized country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to local authorities for its effective use.
Delivering a welcome address at the opening session, Mr Dan Botwe emphasised the importance of the LoCAL Facility in delivering local climate results directly for local communities across the world.
He indicated that the success of LoCAL interventions at the community levels in beneficiary countries can only be sustained if the programming and implementation of the interventions are anchored in the national structures and systems, notably the budgeting system.
He expressed his personal commitment and that of his ministry to work closely with the LoCAL Facility office in Ghana, to deliver real and sustained development to communities in Ghana.
Dr Afriyie, who was attending the Ministerial meeting for the second time, re-affirmed his commitment to serve as an Ambassador for LoCAL in Ghana.
His statement highlighted some successes that the LoCAL facility has been able to achieve in Ghana with strong collaboration from MESTI and EPA. The EPA, he said, has been providing continuous technical support to LoCAL in Ghana at various levels.
“Climate change is impacting negatively on rural communities and livelihoods, and so my ministry through the EPA is creating awareness and building capacities under LoCAL for vulnerable communities in Ghana”, the Minister indicated.
He assured the meeting of his readiness to continually collaborate with his colleague Minister of Local Government to support local communities to achieve climate resilient development.
Aside the two Ministers, other representative from Ghana were Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu, Executive Director, EPA; Dr. Peter Dery, Director of Environment, MESTI; Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Ag. Director, Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation, EPA; Mr. Samuel Seth Passah, Director, Local Governance and Decentralisation, MLGDRD and Mr. Denis Miracle Aboagye, Executive Secretary, Inter-ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation.
The Ghanaian delegation, led by the two ministers, had a country coordination meeting with the UNCDF team, made up of Mr. David Jackson, Director, UNCDF and Co-Chair of the LoCAL Board, Madam Jennifer Bukokhe Wakhungu, Deputy Director, UNCDF, Madam Sophie De Connick, Global Climate Facility Manager and Ms. Angela Yayra Kwashie, UNCDF Ghana Country Lead.
The meeting discussed the implementation of LoCAL in Ghana focusing more on how the implementation of the Facility could be made meaningful to beneficiary assemblies/communities.
