Efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are on course as the World Bank is set to release up to fifty million United States dollars (US$50,000,000.00) to Ghana to fight carbon dioxide emissions.
Speaking at an event on Ghana’s Forest Solutions to Climate Change, Climate Change Manager of the World Bank, Mr. Erwin DeNys, noted that the payment is in
exchange for a six million hectare area of the West African Guinean Forest being predicted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about ten million tonnes by 2024.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources at the ongoing twenty- seventh session of Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
The gesture is to commend Ghana for being an important and active member of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility since its establishment in 2008.
Ghana is one of the first countries to transition to emission reduction programmes and results-based payments, according to Mr De Nys.
According to Mr. De Nys, the nation will soon receive US$4.8 million for over 970,000 tons of confirmed and documented emission reductions between June and December 2019.
He mentioned that the payment will be used to reward stakeholders in emission reduction, and boost confidence in Ghana’s REDD+ process.
In order to further cut emissions and achieve social inclusion, Mr. De Nys added that Ghana will also profit from the World Bank’s Enabling Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) programme.
On his part, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, urged strategic cooperation to close the financing gap for climate change.
He emphasised that the current financial sources are insufficient to address the scale of the issue, and because the $100 billion climate finance pledge made in
Copenhagen was not met, there is an urgent need for stakeholders to collaborate in order to close the gap between ambition and action.
Mr. Jinapor called on governments and all actors to deliver action beyond pledges and declarations. “We are at a stage in the climate struggle where mere talk, commitments, declarations, and/or pledges are not enough.
Consistent with the clarion call of COP27, this is the time the world must “walk the talk” and get on with action and implementation of the many years of unfulfilled climate action promises,” the Minister said.
He said Ghana was committed to forest and nature-based solutions to climate change, which is evidenced by the over 547,000 hectares of degraded forests cultivated between 2017 and 2021, and the over thirty million trees planted under the Green Ghana Project, as well as the verified and validated emission reductionunder the Ghana REDD+ Strategy.
He expressed his confidence in COP27, which has been termed action and implementation COP, to deliver real action towards limiting global warming to the one point five degrees Celsius (1.5oC) target set out in the Paris Agreement.
The UNDP’s Principal Advisor on Climate and Forests, Tim Claris, who also spoke at the event, commended Ghana for its forest solutions to climate change and said the country deserves to be rewarded for actions being taken
in the forestry sector.