By Dennis Peprah
Abesim (B/R), July 28, GNA – Flooding affects more than 45,000 Ghanaians annually, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMeF), a human rights and media advocacy organisation has said.
This implies that the nation loses millions of Ghana cedi every year, because of recurring flooding, he stated.
Mr Ahenu made the statement at the opening session of a day’s National Grantees Forum of the Global Green Grant Fund (GGF), held at Abesim, near Sunyani.
The forum, which was organised by GLOMeF, with support from the GGF, was on the theme: “Bringing Members Together for Strategy and Networking” and attended by 35 civil society organisations who had benefited from the Fund.
The GGF is a donor organisation working to promote among others human rights, environmental justice and social change globally.
Mr Ahenu said recurring flooding was overburdening and had devastating impact on the nation, saying almost half of the nation’s coastal lines were currently becoming vulnerable.
He said regrettably despite the negative impact of flooding, the nation was doing less to control bad farming practices, indiscriminate felling of trees, bush fires and illegal mining.
He advised Ghanaians to support the government’s efforts to control flooding by refraining from building on water ways and flood prone areas.
Touching on the concept of the forum, Mr Ahenu said it was imperative to bring together the GGF grantees to form a network that would intensify advocacy and champion the cause of environmental sustainability and promote human rights in a more proactive manner.
Mr Richard Adjei-Poku, the Executive Director of the Livelihood Environment Ghana, an environmentally inclined NGO and an Advisor to GGF, described the Fund as the most flexible donor organisation to access and asked the CSOs to form local networks to apply and access funding.
He said CSOs could also apply for funding for programmes aimed at mitigating climate change impacts.
Mr Adjei-Poku advised the network to intensify advocacy on climate resilience and climate-SMART agriculture to help improve national food productivity
GNA