AMA Moves For Green City Project

Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has called on city authorities to lead efforts at climate change migration.

Addressing stakeholders at a network adaptation forum and workshop organized by the African regional membership network of C40 cities in Accra, Mr Sowah said his outfit has taken the leading role in ensuring a “smart, sustainable and resilient city.”

He said projections by the United Nations showed that over 50% of the world's population would be living in cities by 2050, adding that Accra has already began the process of making its environs greener and cleaner.

“To begin the process of appreciating the level of the challenge that the city of Accra faces and to be clear in the plans that we have to develop and implement to show our commitment to being good global citizens, the city, with technical support from C40, has completed its greenhouse gas inventory,” he said.

Mr. Sowah indicated that the Assembly has also identified areas contributing the most emissions and provided a dedicated office to focus on addressing the challenge.

He said his outfit has also initiated a number of projects directed at addressing the root causes of greenhouse gas emissions.

“These include efforts at education, aligning our planning regime to encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy, reviewing our processes in waste management with a focus on sound recovery and waste conversion, closing down 70% of the 42 illegal dumpsites, promotion of green and open space development, and a review of the city's transportation and mobility structure,” he said.

Mr. Sowah said climate change is yet another challenge and with each city playing its role, the Paris Agreement of keeping global temperatures from warming above 2 degrees Celsius can be achieved.

The city of Accra is a member of the C40 cities climate leadership group, a network of cities focused on tackling climate change by reducing green house emissions and climate risk and increasing the well-being and economic opportunities of urban dwellers.