Accra, March 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — During a Ministerial Dialogue in Accra, hosted by Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Environment (MESTI), the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) announced the findings of Ghana’s first National Assessment to explore how best to enhance the resilience of its national infrastructure.
“Ghana: Roadmap for Resilient Infrastructure in a Changing Climate”, was initiated by GCA and developed under the leadership of MESTI in collaboration with the University of Oxford, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
As a result of climate change, Ghana is expected to experience more acute climate hazards such as flooding, as well as more frequent and intense droughts. This has the potential to threaten the socio-economic development gains which made Ghana a middle-income country. The National Assessment focused on the energy, transport and water sectors to assess climate hazards to infrastructure assets and to prioritize adaptation investments to address those risks.
Key findings from “Ghana: Roadmap for Resilient Infrastructure in a Changing Climate” include:
- Energy –Future energy availability for about a quarter of a million people in rural parts of Ghana is threatened by drought given their reliance on wood fuel for household energy generation. Equally, climate risks threaten major components of the electricity generation and transmission due to exposure to drought and flooding.
- Water supply infrastructure – 54% of dams assessed are exposed to floods and 23% to droughts under a high-hazard by 2050; the Weija dam, supplying 80% of the drinkable water for Accra’s metropolitan area, was found to be particularly exposed to flooding.
- Transport – in a likely 2050 flooding scenario, analysis revealed the potential of $3.9 billion in damages to roads and highways – triple the estimated $1.3 billion Ghana invested in transport infrastructure in 2019.
GCA contributed to the National Assessment as part of its Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), a joint initiative with the African Development Bank to mobilize USD25 billion of investments in climate adaptation and resilience in Africa.
Speaking during the Ministerial Dialogue, Professor Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of Global Center on Adaptation remarked “I don’t need to remind you that Ghana will become hotter, wetter, and drier. Given how we know the climate crisis is evolving, these are very alarming statistics. But, this is not the full story. For us at the Global Center on Adaptation, the real story on climate adaptation in Africa is a story of resilience, of responsibility, of solidarity, of opportunities for a safer, greener, more prosperous continent. It is this story that is captured in the roadmap we are launching today.”
His Excellency Dr Kwaku Afiyie, Ghana’s Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation said:
“Extreme weather and rapid changes to Ghana’s climate present a profound risk to key sectors of Ghana’s socio-economic development. Infrastructure in these sectors are the bedrock of the country’s economic growth and development. Ghana, through MESTI in July 2020, received support from the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) through UN Office for Project Services (UNOPs) under the “enhancing the resilience of Ghana’s National Infrastructure Systems to the impact of climate change” project […] the implementation of the resilience road map will now require additional financial resources from both Government and Development Partner institutions.”
The National Assessment proposes 35 adaptation options for funders and investors to invest in Ghana’s future, offering impactful, evidence-based adaptation projects and enabling environment interventions backed by robust research and analysis.
GCA, in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), through AAAP, is already working to implement the Scaling Renewable Energy Mini grid and Net Metering Program which seeks to support Ghana in the electrification of island communities and move closer moving closer to identified development objectives such as Sustainable Energy for All by 2030. GCA is working with the AfDB conduct climate risk assessments on potential climate hazards in the districts that will benefit from the electrification program.
Through its Technical Assistance Program (TAP) to access and leverage climate finance, GCA is also providing technical support to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) as part of its application to become a Direct Access Entity to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to enable Ghana to be able to take greater ownership of the implementation of climate finance.
Notes to Editors
About the Global Center on Adaptation
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate resilient future. Founded in 2018, GCA is hosted by the Netherlands, working from its headquarters in Rotterdam with a knowledge and research hub based in Groningen. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China. Through this evolving network of offices and global and regional GCA teams, the organization engages in high-level policy activities, new research contributions, communications, and technical assistance to governments and the private sector. 
Alexandra Gee Global Center on Adaptation +447887804594 alex.gee@gca.org