Climate change is here closer to Ghanaians than expected
For many people in Ghana, climate change is an issue reserved for scientists and environmentalists, but the reality is that the growing phenomenon is uncomfortably closer to man, and Ghana's current energy crisis precipitated by severe drought is just one of the many negative effects of climate change.
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For nearly six decades, the Akosombo Dam has served the country's energy needs but not anymore.
Currently, Ghana, according to the Executive Secretary at the Energy Commission, Dr A.K. Ofosu Ahenkorah, is looking for alternative power generation due to low levels of water in the Akosombo, Bui and Kpong dams.
Dr Ofosu Ahenkorah said the country had now progressively moved from hydropower generation to thermal because it could no longer rely on the dams due to altered rainfall pattern.
"The solution to Ghana's energy crisis is thermal. We are not relying so much on hydro next year. "But of course, the thermal power generation from gas and fuel comes with climate change issues also," he stated.
That is why other African countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Mauritania are gradually moving towards clean energy using more of solar and wind, something that Ghana is beginning to adopt, albeit slowly.
Ghana's experience
Ghana, until few weeks ago, had experienced severe energy crisis, with a load-shedding exercise which started about three years ago and no one seems to know when this situation will end due to multiple other reasons fueled by drought in the Akosombo Dam.
Dumsor, two words Dum (off) and Sor' (on) in the Akan language aptly describes the prevailing situation, which worsens everyday despite numerous promises by the government to improve the situation.
Arguably, Dumsor is the most popular word in the country, and understood by virtually all.
The way to go
Many countries in Africa are looking for alternative ways of bridging the gap between energy supply and increasing demand.
The International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook indicates that 620 million people in Africa have no access to electricity but the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has observed that " Africa's potential for renewable energy is enormous".
Perhaps, that explains the sudden interest by many African leaders to go 'green', tapping nature's wind and solar to power their homes and industries.
The UNEP's 'Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investments' report released late March, last year, showed that solar and wind power investments across the world soared by 17 per cent in 2014, which in monetary terms indicate that these two green investments shored up $270 billion in 2014. In 2013, the amount stood at $232 billion. Over the last decade, some two trillion has been invested in renewable energy generation alone, a trend that was attributed to China and Japan's solar development together with Europe's wind power expansion.
So just how much is Ghana ready to invest in clean energy?
Ghana's 'green' projects
Ghana's weather pattern makes solar energy very ideal but the efforts to tap the sun's power in the past has been scattered. The country's determination to go 'green' is, however, not in doubt with more traffic lights, especially in the national capital, Accra, being powered by solar, and few homes installing solar panels to cushion rationing from the national grid.
The game changer, however, was the recent announcement by President John Mahama to supply 200,000 solar panels for households across the country.
So far 20 registered licensed companies according to Dr Ofosu Ahenkorah have been selected to carry out the installation.
Climate change finance
Ghana will require at least US$23 billion to embark on climate change adaptation and mitigation to build resilience to the global environmental threat.
The Minister of Environment, Science, Innovations and Technology who made this known said climate change "is no longer a distant subject matter for scientists but the daily reality of citizens".
According to him, the investments would be directed at increasing the country's clean energy sources placing premium on natural gas and solar as well as creating a low carbon economy and infrastructure.
Currently, the country according to the Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Felix Ankomah Asante, needs to increase by six folds the amount of money it is spending on climate change before it could confront the issues.
Prof. Asante was speaking at the Ghana side event at the COP21 in Paris during a side event hosted by the country.
Ghana ranked last but one among co-equal countries of Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda on climate change expenditure.
Ethiopia, which is touted as one of the countries with ambitious climate change programmes spent $440 million between 2008 and 2011 on climate change, Tanzania spent $383 million in 2009 to 2012 and Ghana $266 million between 2011 and 2014, while Uganda has spent $25 million between 2008 and 2011.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate (IPCC) Fifth Assessment report on Africa praised Ethiopia's climate change programme stating " Ethiopia's climate-resilient green economy strategy is a good example of an emerging vision in Africa on meeting multiple development goals while contributing to the global effort to mitigate climate change.
Impact of climate change
The impact of the current energy crisis on businesses, both big and small as well as households has been enormous.
The country is estimated to lose between $320 million and $924 million a year in terms of decline in productivity and economic growth due to the current energy crisis. The Ghana Social Development Outlook (GSDO) 2014 of ISSER, University of Ghana, revealed earlier this year.
The GSDO is a biennial report of ISSER, which, among others, focuses on social issues such as education, water and sanitation, health, housing, employment, and energy.
As the debate wears on, the impacts of climate change would be felt in many other sectors of the country's economy.
Receding coastlines, water scarcity with severe impact on health and hygiene, altered rainfall pattern on agriculture, among others are some of the realities of climate change.
The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Daniel Amlalo, sums up the impacts stating it affects all aspects of the economy- agriculture, water, energy, health, coastal areas, cities and infrastructure.