Government must show political will and commit resources to deliver Ghana INDC

GOVERNMENT MUST SHOW POLITICAL WILL AND COMMIT RESOURES TO DELIVER GHANA INDC

Ghana on the 2015-09-23 at 21:05:00 submitted its INDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) as part of Government commitment to fight climate change.  As Ghana prepares to participate in the COP21 in December this year in Paris.

Abibimman Foundation acknowledge the efforts and commitment of Government for engaging local experts through holding consultative meetings to have citizens/stakeholders make inputs when developing the Ghana INDC. This confirms what Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said that "the Black Man is Capable of managing his Own Affairs".

Abibimman Foundation commend the technical teams, CSOs and other stakeholders for their contributions and efforts in helping developed Ghana INDC. We confidently believe that Ghana as a nation can lead the process of African transformation. As we praise the country and the technical teams that worked on the INDC, it must be noted that words alone are not enough to deliver the change we need, it will take resources and political will to deliver and ensure we achieve the targets that have been set in the conditional and unconditional INDC that Ghana has developed for itself.

Even though we commend Government of Ghana for this laudable initiative for setting the pace in using its own citizen to developed Ghana INDC, Abibimman Foundation urge Government of Ghana to generate internal resources or make enough budgetary allocation to enable us achieve the Ghana INDC since over reliance of donor funding will affect our performance and implementation of own developed INDC.

Ghana might not have a strong negotiation position if we have a weak INDC, it is evident that we have the committing to reduce our emissions based. However, we believe that Ghana’s pledge to COP21 can be further strengthened

It is important for Government of Ghana to note that Coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels and the largest single source of global warming and therefore must resist any attempt to use coal as cheapest means to generate power for it people which will only destroy the environment and affect livelihood. Clearly, Ghana and the rest of the world need to move rapidly away from burning fossil fuels and towards the use of renewable energy. This will require a great deal of political will—but the cost of further delay will be disastrous.

The president in his 2015 state of the nation address said, ‘We owe it ourselves as heirs of a generation that did this for us and perhaps even more importantly we owe it to our children and our children’s children’s  who deserve to live in a fully developed, prosperous, free and just society’.

Abibimman Foundation believe strongly that the president will lead this campaign and more importantly with other head of state across the world now that we have adopted the SDGs for another 15 years. We Hope that Government of Ghana will collaborate with civil society and all citizens so that together this generation will leave a planet free of coal and global warning for our children’s children’s.

God Bless Our Home Land Ghana.

CONTACT
Kenneth Nana Amoateng (Mr.)
The Chief Executive Officer,
P. O. Box BT1 – Tema
Tel: +233-506766466/ 0244 023651
Email: info@abibimmanfoundation.com, abibimmanfoundation@gmali.com
www.abibimmanfoundation.org
                                     

WHY THE NDCs WILL NOT ACHIEVE THE 1,5ᵒC GLOBAL TEMPERATURE TARGET

WHY THE NDCs WILL NOT ACHIEVE THE 2ᵒC GLOBAL TEMPERATURE TARGET

All roads lead to Paris in December for the cop 21 and some countries are still preparing their NDCs while others have submitted theirs. As climate change has become a global issue of which has called for the need of world leaders to gather, the politics of it is very important and therefore necessary for countries to critically analyze their NDCs before they submit them.

The intended nationally determined contributions of every country of the UNFCCC which is supposed to represent the country’s position and commitment to combatting climate change in line with the sustainable development goals (SDG) 13 which is stop climate change, 14 which is protect the ocean and 15 which is taking care of the earth must be carefully looked at and the inputs made must critically take into consideration or account, the future of our children and the unborn generation.

Therefore having a careful look at the NDCs submitted by some of the developing countries and if that is the toll others are going to take, then it is evident that we would not be able to achieve the 2ᵒc target or 1.5 degree set for global temperature and the low carbon emissions which we want to achieve. Although some countries like Gabon have withdrew their NDCs to review them, it is worth noting that Morocco on the other hand have done a great job in their NDCs and we believe that they should be a beacon for others to follow so as to effectively achieve the 2ᵒc set global temperature target. It will be more prudent for the Annex 1 countries, the EU, the US, Canada and others should do better and show robust leadership by withdrawing their NDCs and scaling up their contributions. Abibinsroma Foundation believe if we really want to make significant progress then the NDCs should be more ambitious.

This will help after the adoption at the cop in the achievement to low carbon emissions, a green economy and the 2ᵒc global temperature set target. Abibinsroma Foundation is calling on the Developing countries to do more in the preparation of their NDCs and those that have submitted must withdraw and review their NDCs by improving their contributions. The adaption measures taken by countries that have submitted their NDCs are vague and will not really address climate issues adaption. A more practical steps must be taken as adaptation measures to make it more feasible, realistic and achievable.

Establish key principles to guide its implementation, some of which are already contained in the Convention, and some of which, such as respect for human rights Of all, should not be left behind;

 

A universal core agreement that binds all Parties under international law, to take effect from2020. This should take the form of a Protocol or another ancillary agreement with the same effect. The requirement of ratification is usually strong evidence of countries’ intent to be bound.

 

By Kenneth Nana Amoateng

AbibNsroma Foundation