UNDP dialogues with political parties on climate change
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) yesterday dialogued with five political parties on their commitment to climate change as spelt out in their various manifestoes.
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The political parties were the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).
The dialogue sought to establish how the parties had incorporated climate change into their development agenda or manifestoes.
It was also to enhance the understanding of the political parties of the key outcomes of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the relevance of mainstreaming climate change into the medium to long-term development goals of the country.
Submissions
The CPP, in a submission, said the party would fully implement the National Climate Change Policy if voted into power.
The party’s manifesto, which will be launched on Saturday, October 29, 2016, has environmental and natural resources as a section which deals with clean and green strategies.
The CPP team, at the forum, said it was the intention of the party to build 9,000 wind turbines which would generate about 9,000 megawatts of energy into the national grid.
The PPP on the other hand, said it would tackle galamsey and other activities which degraded the environment as part of its environmental policy.
The issue of climate change, according to the party, went beyond making a party’s manifesto compliant and that the party would explore cleaner energy resources which would be environmentally friendly.
The NPP, on the other hand, reiterated its one-village-one-dam project which according to the party, would enhance agricultural production.
It also reiterated its one constituency $1m project, which it said would ensure an equitable distribution of national wealth.
The NDC stated that the country could no longer depend on hydro power and that it had expended all of its hydro potential.
Expert discussion
Discussing Ghana’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) on the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the Director of the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, College of Basic and Applied Sciences of the University of Ghana, Professor Chris Gordon, said the issue of climate change was crucial and should be part of the agenda of political parties.
He said although the country was working towards reducing carbon emissions in the area of agriculture, waste management, industry, forestry and energy, it would take a strong political will to achieve that.
Mr Seth Osafo, Legal Advisor to the African Group of Negotiators in the ongoing United Nations Negotiations on Climate Change, said climate change affected the very existence of the human race.
He said for Ghana and Africa as a whole, adaptation should be a priority as climate change was already having adverse impact on the people.