The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, will address the High Level Session of the United Nation Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, this week.
He will lead the Ghanaian delegation to the conference, which is expected to highlight the need to secure a clean planet for the next generation, emphasising the special needs and circumstances of Africa, and the urgent need for climate action now.
The conference is also expected to touch on the need to increase ambition to meet the two degrees set by the Paris Agreement, and completion of work under Article Six for Market and Non Market mechanisms, which Ghana is planning to pilot with the Government of Switzerland.
It is expected that finance for developing countries would also increase, especially for Adaptation and the need to protect the ocean as an integral part of the earth climate system.
A release signed by, the Head of public Relations of the Ministry, Nasir Ahmad Yartey said Prof. Frimpong-Boateng will present highlights of some major interventions by Ghana to combat climate change.
These include the One-Village-One-Dam, (1V1D), Planting for Food and Jobs, increasing resilience in dry lands of Northern Ghana, Government’s policy to increase renewable energy in the energy mix by 2020 including nuclear, and the 20,000 youth employed to carry out afforestation.
Whilst there, the Minister will participate in a series of bilateral meetings to discuss the implantation of Ghana’s post 2020 climate strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals, the release said.
The statement said, he will also hold talks with the Government of Austria and the World Resources Institute.
The Conference of Parties is the highest decision making body in global climate governance.
Africa, with Ghana not an exception, is the most hit by the impact of climate change, hence the importance of the current negotiations to Ghana “as we enter into 2020 implementation period of the Paris Agreement, and as we draw closer to the first review period of the Paris Agreement in 2020,” the statement said.
