By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Sefwi-Wiawso (W/N), May 21, GNA – The Mobilizing More for Climate (MoMo4C), a project of Tropenbos Ghana, has asked stakeholders to advocate and influence various policies in communities to help address climate change and related issues.
Mr Evans Sampene, the Project Coordinator, said solutions to hunger, malnutrition, biodiversity loss, water management and improvements in livelihood were climate change related.
He was addressing stakeholder groups at a training workshop on Advocacy and Policy Influence on Climate Change at Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western North Region.
The workshop sought to build the capacities of multi-stakeholder platforms to participate and contribute to processes designed to inform regulations on the issue.
The training highlighted understanding the interplay of policy, lobbying, activism and advocacy, tools for advocacy, matrix for stakeholder identification and analysis, chain of influence and power.
The target groups were women in cocoa, youth in cocoa, cocoa multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms, Community Resources Management Areas, the Sefwi-Wiawso District Assembly and Hotspot Intervention Area Management Board, drawn from the Wiawso, Juaboso and Bia enclave.
Mr Sampene cited Ghana’s National Climate Change Policy, saying it was an integrated response to the issue, of which relevant stakeholders must lead in actions.
The Policy outlines the vision and objectives with respect to effective adaptation, social development and mitigation.
It aims to ensure a climate-resilient and climate compatible economy while achieving sustainable development and equitable low-carbon economic growth for Ghana.
Mr Sampene said in the wake of the seriousness attached to climate change issues and resolutions, Tropenbos Ghana had implemented the MoMo4C Programme with sponsorship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
The five-year (2019-2024) programme is designed to bring together entrepreneurs, firms, policy-makers, investors and civil society organisations to make green business propositions.
This is to help tackle the causes and impacts of climate change at the landscape level in developing countries, and to attract investments to implement these initiatives.
The Project Coordinator, therefore, called on stakeholders to intensify advocacy on climate change policies.
Mr Daniel Kofi Abu, the Programme Facilitator at Tropenbos Ghana, urged stakeholders to be able to influence the behaviour of other groups to help achieve the objectives.
He said change of behaviour was critical in policy influencing, and advised stakeholders to develop innovative ways for climate action.
GNA
