President John Dramani Mahama has called on local scientists to come up with technological innovations that will help address the threat posed to food security by climate change.
Launching the National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) document and the National Environment Policy in Accra yesterday, the President said the threat to food security was real and nothing should be left to chance to face the situation.
The NCCP establishes the fundamental principles and actions for addressing climate change.
President Mahama commended the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and other institutions for coming up with early maturing and drought-resistant soya beans and other staples.
"We need more of such technological advances to support the adaptation of efforts at addressing climate change," he said.
National priority
The President said climate change had been a national priority for some time now, as reflected in the Ghana Shared Growth Agenda, the blueprint of the national development agenda.
Climate change, he said, was a real threat to the entire world and Ghana could not afford to stay behind in the fight against the situation.
"In fact, the peace and security of some countries are getting compromised, as millions are forced to leave their homes to migrate in search of more sustainable environmental conditions," he said.
Ghanaian situation
President Mahama stated that one of the most terrible consequences of climate change was that peasants farmers who relied on the weather for farming could not do so easily because the weather pattern had become increasingly unpredictable.
The impact of climate change, he said, was being felt greatly in the three northern regions.
“The people of the Upper East Region, for instance, could no longer successfully cultivate the early millet, as well as certain seasonal vegetables or long-maturing guinea corn and groundnuts.
“Forests were also fast disappearing, with the vegetation turning into savanna,” he added.
He said for its part, the government was exploring ways of building weather surveillance and early-disaster systems to help build resistance against climate change.
Oppong-Fosu
Focusing on the dangers of climate change, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovations, Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, touched on the dangers of climate change and said the ministry was ready to collaborate with its partners to tackle the menace.
Wulugu Nana
The President of the National House of Chiefs, Wulugu Naba Pugansoa, Naa Prof. John S. Nabila, commended President Mahama for the commitment shown in the fight against climate change and called on Ghanaians to unite in the efforts at countering the problem.
