Ghana not exempted from climate change threats - Sylvia Lopez-Ekra

Ms Sylvia Lopez-Ekra, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator, has said that climate change is a global threat to the livelihood and wellbeing of all and it is vital to develop meaningful policies to address the situation.

She said the world is experiencing unusual seasonal activities which include unexpected rainfall, drought and extreme temperatures.

She said there are simple individual and collective measures that can be taken to curb the impact of climate change.

She made this statement through a speech read on her behalf by Ms Ifeoma Esther Charles-Monwuba, Director Ghana Operational Hub, United Nations Office of Project Service (UNOPS) during a beach cleanup exercise organised for UN staff in Ghana as part of activities to mark its 74th Anniversary.

The exercise and celebration is being held under the theme: “A Clean Environment for Health Living: Our Collective Responsibility.”

Ms Lopez-Ekra said sensitisation efforts continue across the country to ensure proper sanitation practices has led to marginal increases in the proportion of households that have access to at least basic sanitation services.

She said the exercise was in support of the UN Secretary General’s efforts on climate change and to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the country.

Ms Hadiyah Garba, Project Engineer UNOPS, Ghana, said the UN office in Ghana has put in place measures to ensure a green environment and to prevent the use of plastics as much as possible in offices and households.

She said some objectives embarked on to achieve this goal include the construction of rainwater harvesters to store water, the use of energy-saving bulbs, to do much work electronically to avoid the generation of paper waste.

“To avoid single use of plastics in our offices we have made room for alternatives, instead of using plastic plates we use ceramic plates, “she said.

She said marine litter affects about 600 species and was it is known that 50 per-cent of the waste generated was from the use of the single waste plastics; “we need to walk the talk and that is what the UN organisation is doing.”

Mr Richmond Kennedy Quarcoo, Director Plastic Punch, said their partnership with the UN was an effort to bring all the stakeholders in the waste chain together to solve the problem with the plastic menace.

“We carried out a lot of awareness strategies through theatre drama, digital games and beach cleanup exercises,” he said.

He said most of the waste gathered would be recycled and plastics collected would be used to manufacture bricks for construction and the bottles would be shredded and used for textiles.

The entire exercise was able to clean the Kumasamba La-Bamba beach in South-La of about 675 kilograms of waste which comprise of plastics, coconut husk, sticks, shoes clothing and water sachets.