Let’s ramp up climate action — Jinapor

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has called on all actors in the fight against climate crisis to collectively ramp up action at all levels to address the menace.

Mr Jinapor, who is the Co-Chair of the Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) alongside the United States' Special Envoy on Climate Change, John Kerry, said finding a solution to the climate crisis was non-negotiable as it had dire consequences for humanity and the planet.

"The climate crisis is reaching a tipping point.

The Earth is now 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it used to be decades ago.

The effect of this is being experienced by every individual wherever they find themselves, whether in Accra, Bogota, Bonn, Libreville, London, Oslo, San Jose or Washington.

The desire for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, is therefore essential in maintaining a livable climate," he said.

He was speaking at the maiden Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) Sherpas international meeting of the 26-member countries in Accra yesterday (June 20).

The two-day meeting delved deeper into what the outcomes of the various initiatives should be and what could be accomplished by the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations, particularly, in respect of reductions in forest loss.

The meeting would also explore practical measures needed to halt and reverse forest loss.

Again, the participants will look at how to provide "genuine space" for tropical forest countries to be heard in matters related to forests and climate action.

Adhering to commitments

Prior to the meeting, the steering committee of FCLP held its maiden virtual meeting on June 6, underscoring the need for collective efforts towards a 1.5 degrees Celsius world as required under the Paris Agreement.

Mr Jinapor explained that as part of the commitment towards a 1.5 degrees Celsius world, the maiden steering committee meeting discussed issues on carbon markets, sustainable trade, promotion of a sustainable bio-economy for wood, inclusion of the needs and concerns of indigenous people and the design of integrated country packages.

He said such issues were highlighted as high ambition areas of work that could make significant announcements at COP28 in Dubai and beyond.

The Land and Natural Resources Minister stressed that collective effort was needed to keep our planet cooler, which was why over 140 countries signed onto the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on halting and reversing forest loss by 2030 and to promote a just rural transformation.

"The fight against climate change requires conscious and collective effort by all of us, citizens of the world.

Let us roll up our sleeves and get to work.’’

He said as co-chairs of the FCLP, they would go every length to achieve the partnership’s core objective of facilitating and enhancing cooperation on the delivery of pledges made in Glasgow.
 

Action areas

The FCLP Co-chair said in the quest to strengthen the fight against climate change, the partnership remained focused on its action areas.

These action areas are to strengthen international collaboration on the sustainable land-use economy and supply chains; mobilising public and donor finance to support implementation; shifting the private finance system and powering forest guardians.

The others are strengthening and scaling up carbon markets for forests and building international partnerships and incentives to preserve high-integrity forests.

Mr Jinapor observed that since the world had signed on to an ambitious target of reversing forest loss by 2030, it was his belief that having the voices of tropical forest countries heard audibly and feeding into the initiatives being designed would be key for the success of nature and climate discussions.

Ghana’s effort

Touching on efforts being made in the country’s forest sector to address the climate crisis, he said over 40 million trees had been planted over the past three years under the Green Ghana Day project.

He said the initiative would be sustained to ensure that all degraded forests and landscape were restored.

The minister also said the government would strengthen measures it had put in place to tackle the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation such as illegal mining, illegal logging, bush burning and expansionist agricultural activities.