By Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, July 9, GNA – Alhaji Baba Seidu Issifu, Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability, has called for climate resilience to become the foundation of all new development in Ghana.
He said buildings, roads, and other infrastructure being constructed today must be designed to withstand the impacts of climate change.
Alhaji Seidu Issifu made the call on Thursday during the public hearing of Parliament’s Government Assurances Committee at Parliament House.
Moving beyond international climate commitments, the Minister said climate action must be integrated into all aspects of government planning and development.
“Mr. Chairman, with your support, let us find a way to ensure that the buildings that we are erecting today are climate resilient. The roads that we are constructing today are climate resilient. Any activity that we do must have a climate dimension to it. That is the way to minimise the shocks of climate change,” he said.
The Minister described the mandate of his office as cross-cutting, explaining that climate change affects virtually every sector of the economy and therefore requires coordinated action beyond the Ministry of Environment.
Mr Dominic Nitiwul, Chairman of Parliament’s Government Assurances Committee, supported the call for stricter enforcement of building regulations, warning that rapid population growth and disregard for planning laws were increasing Ghana’s vulnerability to climate-related disasters.
“We should not see people dumping into river bodies or blocking the water, and we allow them because they want to build, and at the end of it, their houses have to [be demolished] to the next level and kill people through floods,” he said.
“You can imagine the next 50 or 60 years: what will happen if we don’t plan it? It will mean that we are just planning to fail in the future,” he added.
Mr Nitiwul urged the Minister to work closely with his colleagues across government and “not fear politics” in enforcing planning regulations to ensure that future infrastructure is resilient to climate change.
GNA
Edited by Audrey Dekalu
Reporter: Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
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