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Mr Elias Ayuk, Director of UNU-INRA
Mr Elias Ayuk, Director of UNU-INRA

Govt, private sector must partner to address climate change

The Director of the United Nations University (UNU), Dr Elias T. Ayuk, has said Ghana will need about $22.6 billion to address climate change over a period of 10 years.

He has, therefore, underscored the need for effective public-private partnership to raise the money as the government alone cannot generate it.

At a consultative meeting organised by the UNU Institute of Natural Resources in Africa in Accra last Wednesday, he said the recurring floods, droughts, warming of the sea resulting in rise in temperature levels, loss of forest covers, unpredictable rainfall patterns and loss of biodiversity were an indication that climate change was real and had come to stay.

 “These recent occurrences should alert us that climate change is not a myth as perceived but a reality that needs to be tackled holistically with all urgency,” he said.

Dr Ayuk said the whole climate change debate was to encourage the public to do things, particularly with regard to the environment, more efficiently to save the planet in order to sustain human survival.

The workshop

The meeting was held on the theme: “How to create an enabling environment to scale up climate and clean energy technologies in Ghana” with the aim of linking the private sector to the public sector to facilitate the needed partnership to address climate change effectively.

It brought together some private and public sector actors, the academia, policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders to discuss how to scale up climate and clean technologies in Ghana.

It was held in collaboration with the World Bank Group, DANIDA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partners.

 

Innovation and clean technologies

In a concept brief shared at the workshop, the UNU said in Ghana, the interest in innovation and clean technologies rather than locally available renewable resources was growing.

In a keynote address, the Director of Environment of the Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation, Mr Fredua Agyeman, said the concept of green economy adopted in Ghana sought to stimulate inclusive socio-economic development in all sectors, while reducing the impact of human activities on the environment.

He said the government recognised and encouraged public-private partnerships and donor support in financing the development and application of clean technologies in Ghana.

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