Sunyani, Feb. 8, - The World Bank
(WB), with funding from its Climate Investment Fund, has launched a US$5.5
million project to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country.
The five-year project, spanning
2017-2022, is being implemented in 52 forest fringe communities in Brong-Ahafo
and Western Regions.
Titled "Ghana Dedicated
Grant Mechanism for Local Communities" (DGM), the project is being implemented
by the Solidarid West Africa, a partner of the WB, which seeks to fight forest
loss and half unsustainable land use practices in the drive against climate
change and associated impact.
The first component of the
project focuses on the dissemination of knowledge to increase communities
understanding of the linkages between climate change and their current land use
practices.
In this direction, more than
11,000 adults in the selected communities would benefit from general awareness
sessions under the project, whilst at least 1,100 of them would also receive
trainings in climate change-smart land use practices and effective responses to
climate change impacts in the communities.
The second component of the
project focuses on the provision of demand driven sub-grants to communities and
Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) to support communities and selected
individuals and CBOs to put into practice knowledge acquired by the
beneficiaries for climate change mitigations.
Speaking at the launching
ceremony in Sunyani, Dr Nyaneba Nkrumah, the World Bank's Task Team Leader,
said local communities had a key role to play in addressing and solving the
problems of deforestation and degradation in Ghana.
He expressed worry about the
widespread challenges of deforestation, degradation, and burning of wood and
other fuels all over the world.
This, he added was why the WB and
its partners was implementing similar projects for local communities in Mexico,
Indonesia, Burkina Faso, Peru, Brazil, Lao and Congo.
Dr Nkrumah said Ghana is already
experiencing the effects of climate change with the hotter temperatures,
irregular rainfall pattern, extreme cold as well as lack of rains or too heavy
rains at wrong times.
He advised the project
implementing communities to show interest, embrace and support the project to
help mitigate the impact of climate change which remained a global challenge.
Dr Isaac Gyamfi, the Ghana DGM
Project Coordinator, underlined the need for sustainable land use practices
that inured to climate change benefits in the country.
He said a survey in the project
implementing communities showed that a good number of people were aware about
climate change but about 30 per cent of them attributed climate change to
supernatural factors.
Dr Gyamfi observed that in as
much as the community people appreciated the recurrence of climate change, the
linkages between their land use practices which constitute their livelihood
activities and climate change is often missed.
In a speech read on his behalf,
Mr. Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, commended the WB
and its partners for the project, saying, it would help to improve on best
agricultural practices and enhance national food production.
He noted that the issue of
climate change had become national and international concern and urged the
beneficiary communities to take the project serious.
GNA
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