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Vice President John Dramani Mahama has charged Ghanaians to adopt energy-efficient lifestyles as desirable choices to complement measures to fight global climate change.
This, he said, must be aggressively pursued through policy options, and “if need be through legislation to ensure compliance in order to elicit the desired outcomes”.
The Vice President was speaking at a National Forum on Climate Change in Accra on Wednesday, ahead of the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference from 7 to 18 December in Copenhagen, Denmark, christened COP 15.
To ensure a decarbonized future, Mr Mahama said the country is well resolved to explore cleaner energy resources and to minimize emissions in a nationally acceptable way.
“Government sees climate change as a development and governance issue which requires the integration of civil society, gender mainstreaming into a critical must for adaptive decision making.”
Mr Mahama called on the international community to increase their commitment to mitigate the effects of climate change, and adopt measures to cope with its extreme occurrences.
He bemoaned the fact that, although, Africa contributes 3% of the global carbon emission, the continent has been a “hotspot” at the receiving end of the global warming, describing the continent as “a poor victim”.
The Vice President said if the current generation fails to adhere to policies against climate change, the tendency for it to affect hydro power potential, agriculture, water quality and quantity, health, tourism, fisheries, forestry and wildlife, among others in the future is high.
“Ghana's position on climate change is a call on developed countries to demonstrate more commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the levels that mitigate the global warming and climate change preferable by 40%, below 1990 level by year 2020.”
The Vice President, who described waste management in the country as “appauling”, said: “Government is vigorously pursuing proposals which will adapt and adopt an integrated waste management system for this country.
“This will ensure cleaner cities, good health, convention of waste to energy, and re-use of recyclables.”
Mr Mahama remarked that “The Copenhagen conference must not fail humanity.
“Our generation owes it a duty to posterity to ensure that the right decisions are taken at this conference and are complied with in order to save our mother earth. This is our pledge and commitment as leaders.”
You can also listen the the Vice President's address in the attached audio
Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline
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