This
November, the first truly global landmark climate agreement will enter
into force with the framework to reduce emissions and tackle rising
temperatures planet-wide.
UN
Secretary-General has stated that the strong international support for the
Paris Agreement is a testament to the urgency for action, and reflects the
consensus of governments that robust global cooperation, grounded in national
action, is essential to meet the climate challenge.
But the work of implementing the agreement still lay ahead and most critical to implementation of the Paris Agreement is funding of climate mitigation and adaptation activities.
But the work of implementing the agreement still lay ahead and most critical to implementation of the Paris Agreement is funding of climate mitigation and adaptation activities.
“The
beauty of the Paris Agreement on climate change is contingent upon funding and
therefore those who pledge must ensure that the money is released”, observed Dr.
Albert Ahenkan, Coordinator, University of Ghana Graduate Program on Climate
Change and Sustainable Development.
In
Ghana, the agricultural and food economy are already under threat as local
farmers reel under the severity of the weather.
The
country’s climate change policy has clear plans on how to support farmers and
other sectors of the economy to be climate-resilient.
Ghana’s
Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), submitted to the United
Nations, safeguards developmental gains from the impacts of climate change and
builds a climate resilient economy.
A
projected $22.6 billion is needed in investments from domestic and
international public and private sources to finance its climate mitigation and
adaptation actions.
According
to experts, implementation of the Paris Agreement will increase the window of funding
opportunities for climate adaptation and technology transfer.
But
there are questions regarding how to access the funds to undertake climate change
programmes.
Participants
at the 2nd African Climate-Smart Agricultural Alliance Forum in
Nairobi, Kenya, deliberated on the theme “From Agreement to Action: Implementing African INDCs for Growth and
Resilience in Agriculture”.
The
Forum recommended that the NEPAD Agency and the African Union, working with
other partners, fast track and expand support towards implementation of the
nationally determined contributions and national agricultural investment plans.
But
according to Dr. Ahenkan, “until we develop capacity, we will not be able to
access funding. We have to build capacity of our institutions to be able to
respond to calls for proposal; to be able to write very good proposals to be
able to secure funding”.
The
NEPAD Climate Fund has supported 22 projects in 18 African countries since its
establishment in 2014 – each project could attract up to 200,000 Euros.
Coordinator
of the Fund, Kwame Ababio, has acknowledged that access to finance is difficult
for African countries largely due to capacity challenges in developing bankable
proposals that prioritize the needs of individual farmers and other vulnerable
groups.
He
however says there are arrangements to support African countries with capacity
building to access international financing for climate change activities, especially
with climate-smart agriculture.
By
Kofi Adu Domfeh
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