The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has urged the Government of Ghana to develop a vision of climate finance architecture and pledged its support in implementing the necessary strong and strategic response to financing the country�s response to climate change.
Speaking on behalf of the UNDP at the opening of a workshop on climate change financing in Accra, yesterday,
Jeremiah Blaise, UNDP Deputy Country Director (Programmes) noted that although international finance is key, national climate finance architecture without domestic and private finance will be incomplete.
Mr Blaise stressed the need to put in place a system that will not only enable Ghana to mobilise investments from all potential sources― public and private, international and national―but also one that have a robust delivery mechanism to effectively address the adaptation needs of communities, particularly those that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
He disclosed that in view of the need for dedicated and skilled human resource base as well as enhanced co-ordination of efforts, the UNDP is helping the Government of Ghana to place high level personnel at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology to provide co-ordination support to climate change initiatives.
In addition, Mr Blaise said, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through the African Adaptation Programme (AAP), will support the development of detailed recommendations for a climate finance mechanism in Ghana as well as the development of guidance to enable government understand the economic impact of climate change on their own sector organisations.
He stressed the need for transparent accounting and reporting mechanisms on the use of climate finance so as to maximise access to climate finance and be able to meet stringent requirements for �direct access� which do not pass through multi-lateral and bilateral agencies, but go directly to national entities.
Mr Blaise commended Ghana for taking the initiative to develop a climate resilient low carbon growth path within the context of a national climate change policy framework, adding that Ghana is also one of the countries selected to participate in the UN Secretary-General�s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.
In a keynote address, the Minister for the Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, disclosed that Ghana has been included among six other countries in which country-based Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) studies are undertaken.
The study on Ghana, Ms Ayittey said, estimated the economy-wide annual cost of adaptation to range between US$158 million and US$765 million per annum.
Ms Ayittey said given the financial input required for climate change adaptation, countries need to explore all possible sources of funding including Official Development Assistance (ODA) and concessional finance, foreign direct investment and gross domestic investment.
She noted that Ghana is missing out on most of the funding opportunities because of the bottlenecks associated with accessing some of the funds, lack of knowledge about the existence of funds and procedural errors, among others.
Ms Ayittey expressed the hope that the workshop will shed more light on methodologies for conducting the economic analysis of climate change adaptation and build the capacity of participants to develop appropriate climate finance mechanisms in collaboration with public and private sector players.
Ghana�s National Climate Change Strategy places the annual cost of implementing the strategy at up to US$1 billion.
The five-day workshop which is being hosted by the EPA is, therefore, expected to play an insightful role in developing an understanding of what the financial cost of climate change will be and how funding can be mobilised and managed to meet these costs.
Meanwhile, the United Nation�s current five-year development assistance is addressing these workshop objectives, meaning that the UNDP will continue to support Ghana in these issues beyond the Africa Adaptation Programme.
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