Interested in the topics of youth, environment or climate change? Need to assist youngsters with getting their voices found out about what is important to them? Need to get inventive? Is your intention to bring issues to light among youth about climate or Climate Change? Climate change is a challenge that needs to be addressed now to reduce the risk it poses to the youth of today and generations unborn.
We develop this sample proposal with a goal to engage the energy, enthusiasm and values of youth on issues related to infrastructural development such as roads, drains, sewage, dams, national parks from personal lifestyles and to work with their communities, the private sector and government to make significant inroads on reducing emissions and to provide young people and youth with information on climate change and what they can do about it using the linkages between road transport, tree planting and sanitation as major components; providing them opportunities to work on concrete projects to make a difference, and recognition and rewards for their work towards emissions reduction.
The proposition methodology is to bring issues to light among youngsters and youth about environmental change, its causes and expected effects, and supporter on how people can manage inspiring youth to make moves inside their networks to diminish outflows utilizing the linkages between street transport, tree planting and disinfection.
INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT
Human development is about people. It is about expanding people’s real choices and the substantive freedoms – the capabilities – that enable them to lead lives they value. Choice and freedom in human development mean something more than the absence of restraints. People whose lives are blighted by poverty, ill-health or illiteracy are not in any meaningful sense free to lead lives that they value.
Climate change has become one of the defining forces shaping prospects for development in the 21st Century. Ghana is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate which entered into force 16 February 2005 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was ratified by Ghana’s Parliament on 26 November 2002.
Although Ghana has committed itself to meeting its obligations under the Convention and the Protocol for achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas emission, and climate change will continue to have huge and lasting impacts on its ecosystems and productivity, its climate change responses are very limited. The cost of taking preventive action now is much lower than paying the price later. The Kyoto Protocol provide avenues under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which holds great potential to promote technology development and transfer and can assist Ghana in attracting foreign direct investment in the energy, transport, waste management, industry, land usage and management, and forestry sectors where there are clear potential to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The formal and informal sectors of Ghana’s economy are strongly based on natural resources: agriculture, pastoralism, logging, road construction, eco-tourism, mining amongst others. Climatic variations that alter the viability of these activities, for better or for worse, have very high leverage on the economy. Population and development pressures continue to worsen the exploitation of Ghana’s land-cover. These pressures coupled with climate change will negatively impact on the ecosystems will affect the distribution and productivity of plant and animal species, water supply, fuel-wood, among others. Climate change will however impact greatly on women and children who constitute the majority of the poor and depend mostly on natural resources for their livelihoods (like agriculture) that are susceptible to climate change. Natural resources productivity and biodiversity may even be irreversibly lost due to climate change.
The declines in agricultural productivity and food insecurity as a result of declining soil fertility due to changes in rainfall pattern and water stresses have grave consequences on Ghana’s development. Inland fisheries and fish farming systems are predominantly along riverbanks and as a result of water stress will suffer during intense rainfall periods which result in floods and during episodes of drought and habitat destruction.
Human health will be adversely affected by projected climate change. Changing weather patterns and raising temperature will escalate the pressure on our limited medical facilities and staff to cope with the increased demand. This will result from higher numbers of patients suffering from malaria, meningitis (CSM) and other water and air-borne diseases. Persistent droughts and flooding in the face of our inadequate sanitary infrastructure will result in frequent of epidemics of enteric diseases such as cholera and dysentery. These will lead to loss of manpower and decreased productivity whiles automatically increasing healthcare burden which is likely to derail the infant National Health Insurance Scheme.
Substantive portions of Ghana government’s investment go into provision of basic infrastructure for development such as roads, bridges, railways, dams, housing. The impact of climate change on these infrastructure particularly roads, bridges, historical buildings serving as tourist sites/attractions due to exposure to damaging flooding, deep potholes, erosion, excessive heat and other extreme events are very devastating. The exacerbation of desertification by changes in rainfall and intensified land use poses a serious threat to land resources. The reservoir storage of the xxxx dam shows high sensitivity to variations in runoff and periods of drought as evidenced by critically low levels, threatening hydropower generation and industrial activity, which endangers Government’s effort in ensuring growth through the private sector.
The recent flood that hit the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Western Regions of Ghana in YYYY revealed the nations vulnerability. The following were the statistics that were recorded by the Ministry of Interior with regards to the flood;
Ghana’s environmental and climate change challenge profile will be in a more dangerous position in the coming decades. This is due to consistent human activities such as littering with non-biodegradability plastic waste which leads to depletion of soil fertility, check gutters and drains and results in flooding of home, and roads causing deep potholes formation and erosion; huge traffic congestion which leads to high consumption of fuel and large volumes of CO2 emission; rampant bush fires and illegal felling of trees, expanding surface mining and quarries which depletes our greenly surrounding, reduces CO2 uptake, increases temperature and destroys water bodies; increase in industrial activities with huge energy demands; and the discovery of oil which will lead to the drilling of more wells and establishment of more oil refineries. Climate change will have serious permanent damaging effects on Ghana, and it is critical to consider climate change as a development issue. Integrating environmental and climate change concerns into Ghana’s development agenda is critical in order to ensure the long-term achievement of development goals, in particular the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and Millennium Development Goals.
Climate change is a challenge that needs to be addressed now to reduce the risk it poses to the youth of today and generations unborn. Unfortunately Ghana as a country is not doing much to halt the continuous effects of climate change. Most adult Ghanaians are preoccupied with day to day issues. The current generation of this country stands directly in harm’s way and they have the least resources to cope. This has compelled many young people to be primarily concerned with, even overwhelmed by, their education, health, future employment and financial situations which look very blurred.
ABC Foundation therefore through this project seeks to develop a youth-focused Public Education and Outreach (PEO) strategy on climate change. The strategy seek to provide young Ghanaians understanding in the issues and support them with the knowledge, stimulus, and, most importantly, the opportunity to work together towards emissions reductions. The strategy will be piloted in the Greater Accra Region within 2009 and 2011 outcomes replicated in other regions of the country in three (3) phases within a period of ten (10) years (2011 – 2021). It will also be used by the member organizations of Ghana National Youth on Climate Change to champion the issues.
ABC Foundation believes that young people hold the keys to Ghana’s climate change challenges and education is the lead stream in their engagement on climate change actions. Young people through action-oriented projects will be engaged in environmental policy development advocacy while incorporating them in capacity building to ensure sustainability of in-and-out of school operations. There is an enormous gap between action and gratification, or tangible results on climate change. While youth may not see an immediate reduction and corresponding environmental response/reparation, the strategy will provide other ways to reward their actions. Young people will be recognized, respected and rewarded for their contributions and accomplishments. In particular, value will be attached to their volunteer work, in order to engage youth at the community level.
Flexible and multiple sub-projects approach that is more responsive both to the diversity of youth and diversity of funding and other available resources will be employed. The youth will be involved in all processes and stages of implementing and expanding the strategy; design, planning and delivery of an outreach campaign, adverts, and other aspects of this strategy. They will know where their input will go and how it will make a difference (the kind of decisions or impacts they can affect, realistic timelines for change, and what they can expect to see). Opportunities will be created for young people and adults to work together. Campaigns will be easy, accessible and convenient for youth to participate. Sub-projects will encourage interaction, information and knowledge sharing, and participation among the community as a whole. Businesses and industry will be approached to be part of the solution to demonstrate needed integration between the economy and the environment.
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