‘Fighting climate change should impact on the vulnerable’
Abantu for Development, a gender-related non-governmental organisation, has called for more positive efforts to ensure that money invested in the fight against climate change over the years is used to serve that purpose to have a positive impact on the vulnerable, especially women.
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According to a private consultant of the NGO, Baba Tahiru, Ghana has invested a large amount of money in climate change within a period of three years; hence, the need for civil societies to monitor how the money allocated is invested in that area.
Mr Tahiru made the call at a press conference held by the NGO and its partners to present a communiqué issued by the group after a validation workshop that analysed the extent of climate change and gender responsiveness in the country as captured by the 2016 budget in relation to the 2014 and 2015 budgets in Accra.
Press briefing
Briefing the press on issues highlighted in the communiqué, Ms Mardey Ohui Ofoe, a member of the Gender Action on Climate Change for Equality and Sustainability (GACCES), said the group had advocated that the budget of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection should be expanded to incorporate more gender-responsive interventions on climate change.
The NGO, according to her, has also called for a specific legislation on gender and climate change that mandates all institutions to develop relevant actions for the implementation of climate change initiatives that are gender sensitive.
She said gender concerns were not factored into the various initiatives and interventions aimed at enhancing climate change adaptation and mitigation in the country, and added that progress made with regard to the allocation of resources in addressing climate change was woefully inadequate and lacked gender responsiveness.
The group has therefore, called for a policy mandating all ministries to allocate a percentage of their budgets to climate change, as well as to the gender implications of climate change.
According to her, the call is in line with the Ghana National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), and that such concerted efforts are required for effective climate and gender justice outcomes.
She said the communiqué further stated that “the Ministry of Finance must work with relevant institutions to capture sex disaggregated data in relation to the threat posed by climate change on women and men to enable it to respond to the specific needs and concerns of different groups of women and men”
Challenges
Touching on challenges faced by women and other marginalised groups in relation to climate change, Abantu called on the National Development Planning Committee (NDPC) to better coordinate climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives within the various ministries, and ensure that gender responsiveness was adhered to.