By Samuel Dodoo
Accra, Oct. 24, GNA – A capacity building workshop on climate change related loss and damage has been held for non-state actors including civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ghana to expose them to Conference of Parties (COP) negotiation strategies.
It was also to help build strong CSOs coalition to address the challenges of climate change, discuss and identify national priorities to support the preparation to the COP27 engagement for national champion.
It was organised in Accra by the CSO delegation to the COP27, ENDA and African Climate Foundation in partnership with the AbibiNsroma Foundation.
Mr Kenneth Nana Amoateng of AbibiNsroma Foundation in an address at the workshop emphasised the need for the building of the capacity of the CSOs to be abreast with the message that the African and Ghanaian stakeholders are taking to the COP27.
On the way forward, Mr Amoateng expressed the need for CSOs to amass common front and prepare clear messages to advocate for loss and damages integration into the COP27 framework.
He said the way forward should be the development of a platform for synchronizing climate loss and damage data, possibly the ‘Timba software’, and advocacy for funding to support local communities affected by climate change.
Others are empowerment of the youth with climate entrepreneurship to be able to adapt and recover quickly from the incidences of loss and damage associated with climate change, the need to involve the youth in junior, senior high schools and tertiary institutions in the sensitization process.
The rest are measures to assist affected persons, and by that National Disaster Management Organisation should be empowered to be prompt and swift in addressing loss and damage issues and extensive research on the evidence on loss and damage.
Mr Emmanuel Seck from the ENDA-Senegal in a welcoming address expressed the importance of the workshop which would assist the participants for effective and meaningful engagement at the national and international level at the COP27.
Mr Oppong Kyekyeku, the former Director of Climate change at the Environmental Protection Agency urged the CSOs to use evidence-based data to advocate meaningfully on loss and damage to solicit support from governments and other international stakeholders.
The programme was preceded by community engagements in Tema to assess the impact of climate change and the losses and damages that had saddled them and to get key messages that could be used to influence policy makers and CSOs to advocate effectively at COP27.
GNA