Domestic lumber market needs education to protect forests in Ghana

Tropenbos International Ghana has launched a set of communication and training materials on the Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS) to educate stakeholders on the importance and necessary preparation for compliance to the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA).

The System is to monitor, control and verify management and use of Ghana’s forest resources to ensure only legal products are produced, sold and exported from Ghana.

Programmes Director of TBI Ghana, Samuel Kwabena Nketiah, says the materials are to particularly inform small and medium forest enterprises in the domestic timber industry on the TLAS component of Ghana’s VPA.

Ghana is among few countries to have added the domestic lumber market in the VPA with the European Union, which was signed in November 2009.

But attempts to restructure the domestic market have been challenging.

According to Rev. Samuel Fugah of the Anloga Carpenters Union, artisanal millers are best placed to supply the local lumber market.

“The smallscale millers can rightly supply the adequate lumber to the domestic market,” he stated. “If that is not done, then it means we’re building castles in the sky; so we should concentrate on the SMEs now, give them the necessary machinery to make sure that they get the access to the raw materials”.

Tropenbos International Ghana and partners, including the Forestry Commission, have devised innovative ways to address the dilemma of supplying legal lumber to the domestic market.

 

Interest groups, including the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, have endorsed the policy to eliminate illegal chainsaw operations and ensure sustainable supper of legal lumber.

Deputy Sector Minister, Barbara Serwaa Asamoah, says through the VPA, government has committed to trading in only legal wood both in the domestic market and for export.

She believes this will lead to equitable distribution of the benefits of forest resources.

Mr. Kwabena Nketiah, however, says the policy to protect interest of small-scale millers is yet to be activated.

“Definitely we have come very far but as you might realize policy processes are quite slow, so we are yet to get the full accent and promulgation of some of the policy instruments that we have together developed with the Ministry, even though there is a general government buy-in, making it official for wide scale adoption is still yet to be realized,” he said.

Ghana loses an estimated Gh₵25million annually in stumpage revenue from trees illegally harvested by chainsaw operators – illegal tree sales by farmers to operators are equivalent to about 38 percent of the amount.

There are plans to implement a wood tracking system in Ghana to ensure only legally acquired timber is exported under the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licensing regime.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Poor land use exposes Ghana to possible food and water scarcity

Ghana’s food and water security is under threat as the country’s arable lands are lost to illegal mining activities as well as infrastructural expansion projects, especially residential and industrial estates.

According to Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), adequate measures must be put in place to address the challenge of land and water pollution.

She says the increasing human population demands that the country pursues the conservation of farm lands and water bodies to help boost crop production.

She however says the CSIR-CRI has the capacity to restore soil fertility to put destroyed farm lands into productive use.

Dr. Ennin spoke to LuvNews at a workshop on agricultural extension projects under the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI).

KAFACI is an intergovernmental and multilateral corporation body aimed at improving food production, achieve sustainable agriculture and enhance extension services of African countries through knowledge and information sharing on agricultural technologies.

The event brought together agricultural personnel from selected African countries to share research findings to enhance extension services.

Dr. Ennin believes the project would help capacity building and improve upon extension offices as a guide against the shortage of food in the future.

African interest in the heat of global climate negotiations

In the final days of the Bonn Climate Change Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), there was a resounding call to “protect the treaty and climate policymaking from the undue influence of the globe’s biggest polluters”.

This was delivered by Corporate Accountability International to the parties of the UNFCCC on behalf of Rainforest Action Network, hundreds of other organizations and hundreds of thousands people.

The call comes as record droughts and rainfall as well as relentless heatwaves claim lives around the globe and some of the world’s biggest polluters attempt to co-opt the treaty process and influence negotiating outcomes.

The June meeting in Bonn was one of the last formal meetings of the Parties before the next full Conference of the Parties to the treaty in Paris— largely regarded as a make-or-break moment for the agreement.

“Why would you let the professional arsonist join the volunteer fire department?” said Bill McKibben, author and co-founder of 350.org. “These are the guys who want to keep the problem going, not solve it.”

From aggressive lobbying of national governments to bankrolling of international meetings, the fossil fuel industry interferes at all levels. Industry co-optation of treaty meetings has been a growing problem and a primary obstacle to progress.

“The fossil fuel industry is not a partner in the solution—it is the driver of the crisis. Giving big polluters a seat at the table glosses over the glaring conflict of interest fossil fuel corporations have in a real solution to climate change,” said John Stewart, deputy campaign director at Corporate Accountability International. “Inviting gas, oil and coal corporations to shape climate policy is akin to looking to Big Tobacco to shape public health policy.”

Cutting Carbon Emissions

Pope Francis is reported to have called global warming a major threat to life on the planet, saying it is due mainly to human activity, and describes the need to reduce the use of fossil fuels as an urgent matter.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town of called on the governments of

the world to cut carbon emissions drastically to help the world’s poorest people cope with the impact of climate change and to develop in a sustainable way.
 
The Archbishop, who is primate of the Anglican Church of South Africa and Chair of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN), was in Bonn in his role as ACT Alliance Global Climate Ambassador.
 
“Let us act now for climate justice; my call is for people beyond the Christian faith, all people of God from all walks of life to call on world leaders to commit to a process that will deliver an ambitious agreement in Paris, which will support people who are already suffering the impacts of climate change,” said Archbishop Makgoba.
 
“I know reduction of carbon emissions is a political and an economic issue, however, it is also a social issue, a moral issue, and a spiritual issue. We are given the responsibility to care for each other, creation, our planet, and our environment,” he said.
 
While negotiators work to move the UN climate talks forward in Bonn, G7 leaders also met and climate change was on the agenda.  
 
Archbishop Makgoba welcomed the launch of the renewable energy initiative for Africa, which he says “will help our continent to step by step ensure access to sustainable energy for all.”

Africa Progress Panel and G7

The Africa Progress Panel has welcomed the commitment made by the G7 to make deep cuts in emissions and to phase out of fossil fuels by the end of the century. 

In this year’s Africa Progress Report, “Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate Opportunities”, the Panel called on the countries that emit the most to raise their level of ambition and implement their promises at the December climate summit in Paris.

With its 2015 summit communiqué, the G7 has signalled its collective intention to do just that.  

Governments in the major emitting countries must now place a stringent price on emissions of greenhouse gases by taxing them, instead of continuing effectively to subsidise them, for example by spending billions on subsidies for fossil-fuel exploration. The G7’s reaffirmation of its pledge to work for the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is thus notable. 

“I applaud Chancellor Merkel’s leadership in steering the G7 to a firm agreement to decarbonise the global economy over the course of this century. The communiqué’s recommitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies is encouraging and an essential first step to ensuring that agreement is honoured. The G7 has also heard the call from Africa and Africans to massively scale up investment in renewable energy across our continent. The G7 pledge to mobilise resources to accelerate the creation of a low carbon energy system in the region could be “a game changer”; helping Africa grow and leapfrog to a sustainable low carbon future. This is good for Africa and the global fight against climate change,” said Kofi Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel.

Contrast of Africa Civil Society Concerns

The reality of reaching an agreement on key elements of the new climate change pact seems to be a mirage, states the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), the largest African civil society platform on climate change and sustainable development.

PACJA Secretary General, Mithika Mwenda, has expressed fears “those who suffer most from climate change impacts in Africa: the indigenous people, women, youth, small-holder farmers, hunters and fishermen – will be left to bear the brunt of the climate change crisis; yet they are the ones least responsible for human-induced climate change”. 

According to him, there should have been a draft proposal by now, which is responsive to the needs of vulnerable people on adaptation, loss and damage, finance, capacity building, transparency and accountability.

“Instead, all contributions to the agreement whether pre-2020, post-2020 or INDCs, are biased towards mitigation – aligning with those defined and determined by countries wielding the most power, and those which hold the largest responsibility for the climate crisis,” he noted.

PACJA has urged the Parties to seize the remaining negotiation opportunities left before Paris to agree on something concrete and illuminate hope to millions of people under threat of the devastating impact of climate change.

“Let this not be a missed opportunity to ensure a pro-poor and people-centred solution to the urgent climate change crisis,” said Mithika.

EnergyNet exposes students to global energy industry

Ghanaian undergraduate, Audrey Ntiwaa Okyere, is eager to make an impact on the job market when she graduates from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Whilst industry players in the energy sector complain they struggle to get great talents to fill positions, Audrey observes students are also not getting the requisite exposure to prepare for work.

She says students strive to acquire the knowledge, but lack the skills to perform.

“Students, as it stands now, have not being endowed with so much capacity; when you enter into the university right now and you graduate, you don’t have that exposure to the industries,” she said.

Audrey believes students can offer their optimum best to industry when they have the right linkages with companies.

She is among 32 brilliant students from Africa participating in the ‘EnergyNet Student Engagement Initiative (ESEI)’, spearheaded by EnergyNet Limited and sponsored by Aggreko and Norton Rose Fulbright.

The students from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia traveled to Dubai to meet investors at the 2015 Africa Energy Forum for the next step towards further development and employment.

Managing Director of EnergyNet Limited, Simon Gosling, says the program is grooming talented students from economics, legal and engineering backgrounds for employment.

“It’s really providing the students an opportunity but what is important for us is that the story of electricity is that it creates jobs and creates economic development,” he said.

According to him, most of twenty students who participated in the program last year have had opportunities to work with firms that participate in the Forum.

“The whole story of electricity in Africa is very important to us and that is why we want to engage with the students, give them these opportunities but also it creates value [for the companies],” said Mr. Gosling.

Also on the program is Joseph Arthur, a graduate student in finance at the KNUST School of Business. He is learning the challenge in producing power in Africa is more of regulatory and political will.

“We have generation issues, transmission issues and then collection of proceeds from the energy, so we intended to know what is the way forward given these difficulties and we realized that there are various public-private partnership agreements which are being signed across board,” he shared.

Joseph, like his colleagues, is excited at the exposure to the energy industry and the opportunities to be employment after school.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

CENPOWER encourages Ghanaians to pool resources for energy ventures

Ghana hosted a country focus discussion at the 2015 Africa Energy Forum in Dubai, which deliberated on the role of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to deliver on electricity generation.

The panel which included Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor and Chief CEO of Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), William Amuna, looked at investment opportunities in the country’s plans to increase energy generation and distribution.

A major highlight was the call for local ventures to position themselves to develop well structured and bankable projects to attract foreign partners as IPPs.

Cenpower Generation Company Limited, Ghana’s leading private sector integrated power company, shared its experience as the first IPP to operate in the country.

Board Chairman, Nana Samuel Brew-Butler, who was also on the panel, noted that Ghanaians can pool their resources together to start ventures that attract foreign investments.

“Cenpower is a success story and this is an initiative by Ghanaians; it’s not as if some people brought the project into Ghana, we started it and rather attracted others to us because for us,” he said.

Cenpower managed to raise a total project cost of $900million to venture into the power producing business in Ghana.

According to Nana Brew-Butler, being able to be creative in packaging a project will make it bankable and “once you’ve done it once, then have credibility, so you knock on doors and they’ll open it for you”.

The African Legal Support Facility, hosted by the African Development bank (AfDB) has been supporting African governments to negotiate complex commercial contracts in the energy sector.

CEO and Director of the Facility, Stephen Karangizi, has observed that finance is no longer a challenge in power infrastructure projects.

“Years ago the challenge was more of lack of financing, however, today there is availability of financing for infrastructure projects. But beyond that financing, we have other challenges and opportunities that are emerging everyday; the biggest challenge is finding high quality projects that both fit the strategic direction of the African countries and investors expectations at the same time,” he said.

Mr. Karangizi says governments and investors would have to better understand each other in contract negotiations to address Africa’s power needs.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/ in Dubai, UAE

Lekela Power to deliver 150MW of Wind Power to Ghana by 2016

Lekela Power says it is making real progress towards achieving the goal of delivering 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy across Africa over the next five years.

The company is looking forward to leveraging its progress to help meet the rising electricity demand in Ghana, Egypt and South Africa.

“These are ideal places for renewable energy generation due to the abundant supply of natural resources,” said Chris Antonopoulos, Lekela Power’s CEO.

Lekela Power was launched early this year as a joint venture between Actis and Mainstream Renewable Power to serve as one of the biggest international platforms focused on renewable energy targeting the emerging markets.

The firm already has 860 megawatts of wind and solar projects under construction or due to commence construction next year across the three countries.

The Ayitepa wind farm in Ghana will deliver 150megawatts of power to the country’s energy mix.

Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor says the country would have to depend on non-hydro power in efforts to deliver 5,000–10,000 megawatts of power in the next five years.

New Business Manager of Lekela Power, Chris Mathews, who joined a panel discussion focusing on Ghana at the Africa Energy Forum in Dubai, emphasized his company’s commitment to efficiently manage the risk of construction and production of the wind power project.

“We look forward to cutting the ribbon sometime next year on the construction of our project,” he said.

The South African Government awarded Mainstream Renewable Power two wind farm contracts under the latest round of its Renewable Energy Procurement Programme, which will transfer into the Lekela Power platform.

The projects, which have a combined generation capacity of 250 megawatts, are expected to commence construction next year. Lekela Power already has an additional 360 megawatts of wind energy projects currently under construction in South Africa.

In Egypt, the company has signed agreements with NREA and took possession of the project land for a 50 megawatt solar PV facility in Aswan, and will shortly take possession of the land for a 50 megawatt wind farm in the West Gulf of Suez. Lekela Power has additional projects in the pipeline in Egypt.

“Reliable electricity is a fundamental driver of economic growth”, Mr. Antonopoulous noted.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/ in Dubia, UAE

APO Announces the winner of the 2015 APO Energy Media Award

Ghanaian journalist Kofi Adu Domfeh, first place winner of the APO Energy Media Award

DUBAI, UAE, June 10, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Kofi Adu Domfeh from Ghana has been selected as the 1st place winner of the 2015 APO Energy Media Award.

Kofi Domfeh is currently in Dubai on an all expenses paid trip offered by APO to attend the Africa Energy Forum, held in Dubai from 8-11 June 2015. He has also won a year’s access to over 600 airport VIP lounges worldwide.

The APO Energy Media Award celebrates brilliant and inspiring stories about Energy in Africa. The subject matter may comprise a single topic or a variety of subjects, including – but not limited to – oil, gas, electricity, geothermal energy, hydropower, solar energy, wind power, nuclear, coal, biomass and more. Stories are judged on content, writing, analysis, creativity, human interest and community impact.

Kofi Adu Domfeh’s report entitled ‘Future Concern is No Longer About Energy Security But Climate Change’ (http://www.apo.af/9iKBLw) stood out for the quality of the reporting, and the depth of analysis into Ghana’s efforts to diversify from fossil fuels and address climate change.

 

Domfeh’s report also gave voice to the many opinions of African experts and advocates in the energy sector.

“We warmly congratulate Kofi Adu Domfeh for winning the 2015 APO Energy Media Award. We hope that this experience at the Africa Energy Forum in Dubai will be a memorable one for him”, comments Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, APO Founder and CEO.

APO (African Press Organization) (http://www.apo-opa.com) is the sole press release newswire in Africa and is a global leader in media relations relating to Africa.

http://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/79138/kofi-adu-domfeh-wins-apos-energy-media-award

Ghana poised to be export hub of Power in West Africa – Power Minister

The impact of Ghana’s energy crisis on businesses and general socio-economic livelihoods is yet to abate.

But the Ministry of Power has the ambitious goal of positioning the country to be an export hub of power in the West African Sub-region.

Sector Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, says it should be possible for Ghana to trade in power within the sub-region in the next five years with the ongoing activities under the regional power pool centered in Ghana.

The Minister is among six African ministers from the power and energy sectors engaging interest groups at the 17^th Africa Energy Forum (AEF) holding in Dubia, UAE.

Dr. Donkor has been highlighting the challenges with electricity generation in Ghana as well as government’s intervention to address the generation deficit, with the objective of marketing the investment potentials of the country’s power sector to Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

“The Ministry of Power is encouraging IPPs to invest in both conventional and non-conventional forms of generation in the power sector, notably new gas-fired plants, biomass-fuel plants, solar and wind, hydro and tidal power generations as well as clean coal fuel generation,” he said.

The Minister also stated government’s resolve to address what he termed “the tri-lemma of energy management” – availability of supply, affordability of supply and security of supply.

 

“We are also poised to be the export hub of power to the West African sub-region,” Dr. Donkor told the Forum.

The West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) has the goal of integrating national power system operations into a unified regional electricity market to provide a stable and reliable power supply at affordable cost.

Peak demand for power in Ghana is currently is about 2,400megawatts as against the total installed generation capacity of 2,845megawatts; but only 1,600megawatts is available at peak and 1,400megawatt at off-peak periods.

The 800megawatt deficit in generation capacity – as a result of equipment failure, unstable fuel supply and poor rainfall patterns in the Volta catchment – has resulted in load shedding in most parts of Ghana.

According to Rwandan Minister of Infrastructure, James Musoni, the failure of African governments to engage the private sector in the past has been a factor in the current deficit of power generation on the continent.

Ghana’s Power Minister, however, said the government is continuously improving the investment environment and will work with the private sector to supply reliable power to the population.

The Africa Energy Forum has attracted over 450 unique companies from 63 countries worldwide looking for investment opportunities in Africa.

The AEF 2015 is organized by EnergyNet Limited and sponsored by Aggreko.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/in Dubai, UAE

World Environment Day of floods and tears

Let us think about the environmental consequences of the choices we make; let us become better stewards of our planet.

These are the words of Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, to mark the World Environment Day 2015.

According to him, the well-being of humanity, the environment and the functioning of the economy, ultimately depend upon the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources.

“Living sustainably is about doing more and better with less. It is about knowing that rising rates of natural resource use and the environmental impacts that occur are not a necessary by-product of economic growth,” said Ban Ki-moon.

In Ghana, World Environmental Day is being commemorated amidst flooding in parts of the country, leading to some loss of lives.

The country’s environmental pollution and degradation fuel the floods anytime the rains set in. Littering and disposal of garbage in drains and gutters choke waterways and bring about flooding. Poor infrastructure development has resulted in people building in waterlogged areas, whilst law enforcement is relaxed for political expediency.

Ghana’s environmental sanitation challenges could be exacerbated by the changing climate – in less than half a century, the country’s forest cover has depleted from seven million hectares to 1.3million.

Drastic measures are required for a sustained future.

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has set an ambitious goal of plant, nurture and grow 30million trees annually.

The existing trees will also need to be protected to halt the speed of deforestation.

Sector Minister, Mahama Ayariga, talks about the deployment of biogas technologies, especially in rural communities, to prevent tree felling for firewood and charcoal.

“It is now imperative because of the energy challenge that we have since biogas, when well managed, can also run generators to provide electricity,” he added.

The Ministry plans to present new regulations to parliament to compel the construction of bio-septic tanks in private housing facilities whilst all public schools are supported to generate their energy from biogas plants.

 

Many of the Earth’s ecosystems are nearing critical tipping points of depletion or irreversible change, pushed by high population growth and economic development.

“By 2050, if current consumption and production patterns remain the same and with a rising population expected to reach 9.6 billion, we will need three planets to sustain our ways of living and consumption,” said the UN Secretary-General.

The theme for this year’s celebrations, “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care”, emphasizes that personal responsibility each one bears for enabling inclusive and sustainable economic development while stabilizing and reducing the rate of resource use.

“The annual World Environment Day reminds people across the globe that it is our personal choices that shape the world around us. Our daily decisions as consumers, multiplied by billions, have a colossal impact on the environment – some of them contribute to the further depletion of natural resources, others help to protect fragile ecosystems. Every time - the choice is ours,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme.

 

It is hoped that the WED serves as an opportunity for everyone to realize the responsibility to care for the Earth and to become agents of change.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Boost in Africa’s energy investment has triple win for people, power and planet, says Kofi Annan

African governments, investors and international financial institutions must significantly scale up investment in energy to unlock Africa’s potential as a global low-carbon superpower.

That is the main message of a new report from Kofi Annan’s Africa Progress Panel; “Power, People, Planet: Seizing Africa’s Energy and Climate Opportunities”.

The report calls for a ten-fold increase in power generation to provide all Africans with access to electricity by 2030. This would reduce poverty and inequality, boost growth, and provide the climate leadership that is sorely missing at the international level.

“We categorically reject the idea that Africa has to choose between growth and low-carbon development,” said Kofi Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel. “Africa needs to utilize all of its energy assets in the short term, while building the foundations for a competitive, low-carbon energy infrastructure.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 621 million people lack access to electricity – and this number is rising. Excluding South Africa, which generates half the region’s electricity, Sub-Saharan Africa uses less electricity than Spain. It would take the average Tanzanian eight years to use as much electricity as an average American consumes in a single month. And over the course of one year someone boiling a kettle twice a day in the United Kingdom uses five times more electricity than an Ethiopian consumes over the same year.

Power shortages diminish the region’s growth by 2-4 per cent a year, holding back efforts to create jobs and reduce poverty. Despite a decade of growth, the power generation gap between Africa and other regions is widening. Nigeria is an oil exporting superpower, but 95 million of the country’s citizens rely on wood, charcoal and straw for energy.

The report reveals that households living on less than US$2.50 a day collectively spend US$10 billion every year on energy-related products, such as charcoal, kerosene, candles and torches.

Measured on a per unit basis, Africa’s poorest households are spending around US$10/kWh on lighting – 20 times more than Africa’s richest households. By comparison, the national average cost for electricity in the United States is US$0.12/kWh and in the United Kingdom is US$0.15/kWh.

This is a significant market failure. Low-cost renewable technologies could reduce the cost of energy, benefiting millions of poor households, creating investment opportunities, and cutting carbon emissions.

The report says Africa’s leaders must start an energy revolution that connects the unconnected, and meets the demands of consumers, businesses and investors for affordable and reliable electricity.

The ten-member Africa Progress Panel advocates at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. The Panel releases its flagship publication, the Africa Progress Report, every year.

The 2015 Africa Progress Report urges African governments to: Use the region’s natural gas to provide domestic energy as well as exports, while harnessing Africa’s vast untapped renewable energy potential; Cut corruption, make utility governance more transparent, strengthen regulations, and increase public spending on energy infrastructure; Redirect the US$21 billion spent on subsidies for loss-making utilities and electricity consumption – which benefit mainly the rich – towards connection subsidies and renewable energy investments that deliver energy to the poor.

The report also calls for strengthened international cooperation to close Africa’s energy sector financing gap, estimated to be US$55 billion annually to 2030, which includes US$35 billion for investments in plant, transmission and distribution, and US$20 billion for the costs of universal access.

A global connectivity fund with a target of reaching an additional 600 million Africans by 2030 is needed to drive investment in on- and off-grid energy provision.

Aid donors and financial institutions should do more to unlock private investment through risk guarantees and mitigation finance.

Time to end ‘climate negotiating poker’

The report challenges African governments and their international partners to raise the level of ambition for the crucial climate summit in Paris in December, and calls for wholesale reform of the fragmented, under-resourced and ineffective climate financing system.

G20 countries should set a timetable for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, the report states, with a ban on exploration and production subsidies by 2018.

“Many rich country governments tell us they want a climate deal. But at the same time billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money are subsidising the discovery of new coal, oil and gas reserves,” Mr Annan said. “They should be pricing carbon out of the market through taxation, not subsiding a climate catastrophe.”

While recognising recent improvements in the negotiating positions of the European Union, the United States and China, the report says that current proposals still fall far short of a credible deal for limiting global warming to no more than 2˚C above pre-industrial levels.

It condemns Australia, Canada, Japan and Russia for effectively withdrawing from constructive engagement on climate.

“By hedging their bets and waiting for others to move first, some governments are playing poker with the planet and future generations’ lives. This is not a moment for prevarication, short-term self interest, and constrained ambition, but for bold global leadership and decisive action,” Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan added, “Countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa are emerging as frontrunners in the global transition to low carbon energy. Africa is well positioned to expand the power generation needed to drive growth, deliver energy for all and play a leadership role in the crucial climate change negotiations.”

Gold to Ghost towns – salvaging resource rich communities in Ghana

For over ten decades, mining has been the main stay of the economy of Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The industry has contributed immensely to the country’s development but local mining communities have challenges of their own.

The mine’s years of boom is now experiencing a burst. Mining giant, AngloGold Ashanti, which operates in the Obuasi concession, has been recording dwindling fortunes in recent times.

The company has put its activities under a two-year break for a restructuring process to make the mines profitable.

Kofi Adu Domfeh assesses the current situation and the expected socio-economic impact on livelihoods of communities in Obuasi. 

Listen to Audio report...

https://soundcloud.com/kofi-adu-domfeh-1/gold-to-ghost-towns-salvaging-resource-rich-communities-in-ghana