Ghana is impacted by various risks and uncertainties, including increased storm surges, extreme rainfall, sea-level rise, flooding and increased frequency, and severity of droughts.

More worrying is the effect of climate change on community livelihoods, infrastructure stability, rain-fed agriculture, food security, spatial planning, and energy security among others.

At a two-day awareness workshop for planning officers in the Western Region around effectively integrating extreme weather and climate change risks into district-level energy frameworks and planning in Takoradi, Mr. Chikkatur spoke of the need for Ghana to pay particular attention to climate change due to its present and future threat it poses.

He explained to Citi News that “there is what we call non-climate stressors. We already have building codes in Ghana. We have environmental impact assessments that one should do. if you do not do those environmental impact assessments correctly, if you do not follow these existing building codes correctly, then whatever happens with climate will just make it worst.

“We have drains in Takoradi, we have drains in Accra. Many of these drains as we know them are clogged. You get to the Kaneshie Market during rain storms and the drains all get covered. If we do not clean the drains, it is going to make things more difficult. Does that has to do with climate change? No, it has to do with us following the building codes, we need to follow procedures, it has to do with us not throwing garbage on the streets, we make sure if they are there already, they are getting collected among others.”

Mr. Chikkatur then admonished that “if the things that we are supposed to do are not done, and on top of that we have the effect of Climate Change, its going to make things even worse. It’s not just about climate change, but following the codes for sanitation, building and other codes”.

Speaking of how Climate Change is becoming a threat to Ghana, Mr. Chikkatur mentioned of the report they have produced on Climate Change and its effect on Ghana, when he said that “in the next 20 to 30 years, there will be increased high temperatures in Ghana. It could be anywhere in Ghana and will range anywhere between 1.2 and 1.6 centigrade in the future. It means that the weather will be hotter and the rainfall pattern is anticipated to change. We anticipate that there will be more rains from the months of August to December and less rain from March to June. This will be a slight change”.

He continued that “as the temperature gets warmer, there will be more evaporation and so there will be more clouds. This presents a possibility that there will be more rains but these rainfalls could be more extreme as we have been seeing in Accra. Accra has had rainfalls at unexpected times and downpours. These patterns could be more extreme. We need to plan with these changes in patterns in mind”.

It is on the back of putting integrated climate change information into planning at the district assembly level that the IRRP is sensitizing planning officers in the Western Region to aid them factor in climate change information in their planning processes.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The national mean temperature of 22.75C was almost 1C higher than a 1961-1990 baseline, its annual report revealed.

Only 2005 and 2013 were warmer, based on records kept for about a century.

In November, the World Meteorological Organization projected that 2017 was “very likely” to be among the hottest years ever globally.

The majority of Australia saw above-average heat, with maximum temperatures the second-warmest on record, the bureau said.

“Despite the lack of an El Niño – which is normally associated with our hottest years – 2017 was still characterised by very warm temperatures,” said Dr Karl Braganza, head of climate monitoring.

Summer heat described as “exceptional” had resulted in several land-based records being set in New South Wales and Queensland.

In its annual report released on Wednesday, the bureau said seven of Australia’s 10 warmest years had occurred since 2005. Only one year, 2011, had cooler than average temperatures.

It also reiterated that the Great Barrier Reef had suffered consecutive years of mass bleaching due to elevated ocean temperatures.

Climate change caused by human activity had contributed to the annual mean temperature increasing by about 1.1C since 1910, the report said.

On Sunday, Sydney experienced its hottest day in 79 years when temperatures hit 47.3C. A previous study has warned Australia’s biggest cities could face 50C temperatures by 2040.

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Source: BBC

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The six business owners were awarded the Proof of Concept (PoC) grants, after “a competitive pitching process”, in which various companies present “profitable and locally-appropriate solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Ghana.”

The companies are Alchemy Alternative Energy, Translight Solar, Ghana Bamboo Bikes, DAS Biogas, Global Bamboo and Rasaboat.

With global attention towards climate change and its possible implications growing in recent years, the GCIC supports businesses with the grants to determine the viability of their ideas and models in the context of climate technology development, deployment or transfer.

According to a statement from the Centre, the selected businesses had “demonstrated strong potential to positively impact the environment and their communities, through mitigation and adaptation to identified challenges in waste management, solar energy, energy efficiency and climate-smart agriculture.”

The statement also added that, the disbursement of the funds would begin once the beneficiaries of the grants met certain conditions.

The Centre’s key focus is on businesses operating within the areas of energy efficiency, domestic waste management, solar energy, water supply management and purification, and climate-smart agriculture.

Located on the Ashesi University College Campus in Berekuso, the GCIC currently has 11 entrepreneurs in the incubator, and is in the process of recruiting for Cohort Two entrepreneurs.

The GCIC is part of the World Bank’s Climate Technology Program, and its global network of Climate Innovation Centres, which include centres in the Caribbean, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, and Vietnam.

Supported by the Governments of Denmark and the Netherlands, the Centre is managed by a consortium led by the Ashesi University College, and includes Ernst & Young, SNV Ghana, and the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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But in the notice to the United Nations the US state department said Washington would remain in the talks process.

President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced the US intention to withdraw.

He said the deal “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.

Friday’s announcement is seen as largely symbolic as no nation seeking to leave the pact can officially announce an intention to withdraw until 4 November 2019.

The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.

Any new US president could then decide to rejoin the agreement.

–

Source: BBC

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UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman called it “a major disappointment” while the European Union said it was “a sad day for the world”.

However, senior Republicans and the US coal industry-backed the move.

Mr Trump said the accord “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.

In an address at the White House, he said he was prepared to negotiate a new agreement or re-enter the accord on improved terms.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said.

The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5C.

Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.

Mr Trump characterised the Paris agreement as a deal that aimed to hobble, disadvantage and impoverish the US.

He claimed the agreement would cost the US $3tn (£2.3tn) in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs – while rival economies like China and India were treated more favourably.

Mr Trump said he was fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens”.

He added: “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore – and they won’t be.”

Mr Trump did not give a timescale. However, under the agreement, a nation seeking to leave the pact can only give notice three years after the date it entered into force – 16 November 2016.

The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.

US payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, will stop.

What has the reaction been?

Former US President Barack Obama, who agreed to the Paris deal, immediately criticised the move, accusing the Trump administration of “rejecting the future”.

Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger and the entrepreneur Elon Musk both resigned from White House advisory councils.

“Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” said Mr Musk, the head of tech giant Tesla.

However, Republican congressional leaders and the US coal industry backed the move, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting Mr Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs”.

Peabody Energy, America’s biggest coal mining firm, said the agreement would have badly affected the US economy.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st Century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing”.

Canada was “deeply disappointed” by President Trump’s decision, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

This was echoed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who expressed her disappointment and told Mr Trump in a phone call that the deal protects the “prosperity and security of future generations”.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said he respected Mr Trump’s decision but believed it was a “mistake both for the US and for our planet”.

Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said: “I’m not just disappointed, but also feel anger.”

A United Nations spokeswoman said it was a “major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security”.

Small island nations whose existence is threatened by rising sea levels were critical of the move. The President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, said it was “highly concerning for those of us that live on the frontline of climate change”.

–

Source: BBC

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GMGI is an environmental advocacy group aimed at propagating the course of environmental consciousness and management among Ghanaians through advocacy while seeking common solutions to the country’s environmental challenges.

At GMGI, we believe that “change begins with the mind and the power to stop environmental depletion rests within the individual consumers”.

It is imperative therefore, that promoting environmental literacy among students is a stepping stone for solving the country’s environmental problems whiles protecting our valuable natural resources.

Our strategy is to create a pool of youth in schools and communities to act as change agents for environmental management.

GMGI charges students to educate their parents, peers, friends and families on the need to plant trees, avoid felling of trees in their homes, schools and forests in order to control the excessive emission of greenhouse gases that heat in the atmosphere and also to stop indiscriminate waste disposal.

To do this and ensure the sustainability of knowledge shared, we establish environmental clubs in schools across Northern Ghana. We charge the youth; either in school or not, at the primary, JHS, SHS and tertiary levels to be at the forefront of environmental issues and to improve the usage and management of natural resources in Northern Ghana.

As we commemorate the Earth Day on the theme “Environmental and Climate Literacy”, Green Minds Ghana Initiative is calling on people that climate change is real and it already having impacts on our natural resources and systems such as agriculture.

It is important to recognise and to intensify climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts across the country. “We urge all Ghanaians, especially the youth to inspire actions toward environmental protection.

We urge the government to help promote climate change adaptation and to advance policies towards respecting and protecting our environment from any form of indiscriminate behaviours from individuals and corporate organisations or countries”. In our own small ways, let us make this celebration a success by cutting back on

In our own small ways, let us make this celebration a success by cutting back on single-use plastics, recycling and planting at least a tree.     

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By: Green Minds Ghana Initiative, Wa-Ghana (

([email protected])

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The president said this would put an end to the “war on coal” and “job-killing regulations”.

The Energy Independence Executive Order suspends more than half a dozen measures enacted by his predecessor, and boosts fossil fuels.

Business groups have praised the Trump administration’s move but environmental campaigners have condemned it.

Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.

Inside, the president was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.

“With today’s executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations.”

During the campaign, he vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal agreed in December 2015.

While campaigning for the presidency, Mr Trump argued that the agreement was unfair to the US.

The landmark agreement commits governments to moving their economies away from fossil fuels and reducing carbon emissions to try to contain global temperature rise.

Mr Trump has in the past said climate change had been “created by and for the Chinese”.

But at the end of last year, he acknowledged that there was “some connectivity” between human activity and climate change.

It is now unclear where exactly the US stands in relation to the deal.

Whatever the US chooses, the EU, India and China say they will stick to their pledges made in Paris.

–

Source: BBC

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He said though the various institutes under the CSIR has been conducting numerous scientific research, its impact on society needs to be felt adequately to bring about the needed development desired by the people they were serving.

Dr Agyemang made this suggestion at Nyankpala in the Tolon District during the 27^th Annual General Meeting of the Research Staff Association of the CSIR.

The meeting was under the theme: “Climate change, food security and wealth creation in Ghana: contribution of science, technology and innovation” and was largely attended by staff of the CSIR.

Dr Agyemang said the CSIR through its various institutes has developed 165 technologies which have contributed to the development aspirations of the populace.

He said there is the need for the Council to refocus its scientific discoveries on human resource development stressing that “we must widen our scope to focus on the sciences, mathematics and engineering for growth”.

He said only 800 scientific publications from Ghanaian scholars appeared in recognised international journals between 2005 and 2010 and urged them to strengthen their capacities on quality research to reposition the country at the international level.

Dr Stephen Nutsugah, CSIR-Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), said the contribution of the institute to research and the discovery of various crops varieties has significantly improved crop yields in the northern parts of the country.

He said there is the need for CSIR-SARI to rebrand and sell their stories very well to the general public to ensure more funding for research.

He expressed worry over the continue brain-drain situation that the institute was facing saying: “for the past years, many experienced scientists have been retired from active service while others have resigned and there are no replacements”.

Dr Nutsugah complained about poor conditions of service and the lack of logistics and funding for research as some of the reasons for the brain-drain.

He appealed to government to focus its policies on dry season farming and the cultivation of short seasoned crops to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.

Dr. Edward Yeboah, National President of Research Staff Association (RSA), said the fast depleting rate of soil and its nutrients coupled with the devastating effects of climate change was worsening poverty in rural parts of the country.

He said the country had many strategies to address the situation but needed commitments on the part of government to ensure its realization.

–

Source: GNA

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Listen or download

https://t.co/xJJhKa4jBU

Show details

Special Ghana edition with 19 days to kickoff of Brazil 2014. Featuring:

– Ghana boss Kwesi Appiah gives a very, very rare exposé into the way he tactics are shaped, why he thinks the way he does and how a recent trip to Liverpool FC has altered his perceptions about player scouting and analytics (courtesy Standard Chartered Bank and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation).

– Asamoah Gyan tells of how dangerous Cristiano Ronaldo will be, importance of winning the first World Cup game vs USA and how *that* penalty misses in 2010 spurs him to redeem Ghana’s place in World Cup history (with Samuel Bartels, GH One TV)

– Algeria have named a not-to-surprising but nonetheless slightly-shocking 30-man team for the World Cup. What’s there to look out for? (with Maher Mezahi)

Who wins our Samsung Galaxy S3 mini this week?

_

Presented by Gary Al-Smith and produced by Nathan Quao/Gary Al-Smith for Citi FM & Supersport.com. Aired: May 2, 2014.

**Soundtrack details**
Song Title: Someway Bi
Artist Name: M.anifest
Produced by: Yung Fly
Singitdamnit Music/Cumbancha Music Publishing (BMI) 2013

More detail: www.facebook.com/FCAfricaRadio

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