Ahead of Copenhagen AgreementGHANA PUSHES FOR MORE FINANCE TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE

The conference on climate change which is to be held in Copenhagen in Denmark is two months away, but Ghana has already started pushing for more funds to tackle the canker. Ghana is preparing to shift towards a 'low carbon' based economy through its forests and agricultural management. But the Minister of Environment, Science and Techology, Hon. Sherry Ayittey said in an interaction with a group of media personnel in Accra over the weekend that the situation could only be possible with increased financial support, as part of the Copenhagen Agreement to help slow growth in carbon emissions.

“Climate change is not solely an environmental issue. It is a risk to the hard won development gains made by Ghana since independence. It is a development issue, a financial issue, a social issue. It is a challenge to food security, water security, and future development”, she said, adding “Ghana in comity with the rest of the world, is saying that we need finance to tackle climate change. The developed countries should not divert resources from aid pledges already made by development partners”.

The CDM concept The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol in which industrialized countries , or their companies can earn emissions credit by investing in emissions-reducing-projects in developing countries, while the developing countries acquire technology and capital, as well as earn emissions credit that can be banked or sold.

At present, developing countries have no obligation to constrain their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But they are still able to, on voluntary basis, to contribute to global emission reductions by hosting projects under the Clean Development Mechanism.

The CDM has two key objectives - to assist Developing Countries which host CDM projects to achieve sustainable development, and to provide developed countries with flexibility for achieving their emissions reduction targets, by allowing them to take credits from emission reducing projects undertaken in developing countries.

The most important aspects of the CDM are the binding commitments b 39 Developed Countries and economies in transition to reduce GHG emissions by an average of 5.2 % on 1990 levels, by the end of the commitment period, 2008 to 2012. The Copenhagen Agreement will, therefore, replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

In Ghana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the Designated National Authority (DNA) for the CDM. It is empowered by a directive under the EPA Act 1994 (Act 490) which states that - “to do all acts necessary for the implementation of Ghana's obligations under the Clean Development Mechanism as contained in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol”.

The regulatory requirements for the development of CDM projects and the evaluation process for host country approval require that projects meet Ghana's sustainable development criteria in the areas of social, economic and environmental aspects.

Way forward to benefit Africa
To enable Africa to fully benefit from carbon trading, Hon. Sherry Ayittey contended that the market rules and instruments need to reduce transaction costs and also make more relevant and accessible for Africa, by including sectors such as forestry. She said countries like Ghana need to be able to plan and implement development responses to climate change on the basis of predictable, adequate and long term finance.

The Environment, Science and Technology Minister contended that a three or five year financing is inadequate since it is the limit of most existing public finance projects which also impose high transaction costs. “Projects have their place but we need systems that will enable financial resources to flow on a large scale. And the best way of doing this is to apply wider principles of aid effectiveness. A deal in Copenhagen needs to move beyond complicated procedures that impose heavy transaction costs, but instead deliver resources on scale”, she noted.

But Ghana's request remains a challenge, since efforts to make rich nations commit to strong reductions in Greenhouses gas emissions have failed to succeed at international climate talks in the Thai capital of Bangkok, the UN said.

Reuters quoted Yvo de Boe, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat as saying - “Progress towards high industrialized world emission cuts remainsdisappointing during these talks. We're not seeing real advances there.” He added - “”Movement on the ways and means and institutions to raise, manage and deploy financing support for the developing world climate action also remains slow.”

According to the Associated Press (AP) delegates from about 180 nations are trying to narrow differences on ways to broaden and deepen the fight against climate change.

The September 28th to October 9th talks are the last major negotiating session before Ministers meet in Copenhagen to try to seal a tougher global pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The EU is set to decide on Friday on how much aid they will give to poor countries to cope with climate change.