Accra, Nov. 23, GNA - Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment Science and Technology, has reiterated government's commitment towards pushing for a comprehensive deal on climate change that engenders growth and poverty reduction at the upcoming Summit in Copenhagen. "Government, through an African common voice, will push for a comprehensive deal that must be accompanied by substantial financial mechanism to benefit the poor and vulnerable countries," she said. Ms Ayittey was speaking on Monday at a seminar organised by her sector Ministry in collaboration with the National Climate Change Committee for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations in Accra.

The seminar forms part of series of activities the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology (MEST) is embarking on to create the platform for the public, media, civil society, religious groups as well as NGOs to discuss effective ways of mitigating and adapting to climate change ahead of the International Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ms Ayittey said government would spearhead a concerted and strong African voice at the Copenhagen Summit and beyond in order to signal the seriousness of climate change issues as they affected Africa and other vulnerable countries.

"Government would also push for a clean and renewable energy projects and payments for carbon-storing ecosystems," she stressed. Environment ministers and officials are meeting at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December to thrash out a global deal on climate change. More than 15,000 participants including diplomats, environmental campaigners and journalists are expected to attend the summit. Ms Ayittey noted that climate change offer a number of business opportunities for the country and other African countries and stressed that Ghana should not lose out on such potentials.

She said a lot of opportunities exist in Ghana to absorb carbon through forest and agricultural management.

Ms Ayittey called for support for developing diffusion, technology transfer in areas such as forests, agriculture, water management and energy in order to make the business opportunities a reality. She disclosed that MEST had tasked the multi-sectoral National Climate Change Committee to advise government on appropriate actions at the national and international levels in order to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Ms Ayittey called on NGOs to complement the efforts of government so that implementation of activities geared towards improving the socio-economic development of the country would be realized. "In connection with the Copenhagen Climate Change talks in December, the Ministry is committed to engaging with NGOs in the run-up to the talks and beyond." 23 Nov. 09