Climate change projects in Northern Ghana said not to be doing well
Three out of the 11 districts in the Northern Region are performing creditably well in the implementation of climate change projects under the $88.6 million, Ghana Social Opportunities Projects (GSOP), Mr Sabastian Salia Yiah, Regional Infrastructure Engineer said.
“Aside East Gonja, Saboba and Kpandai Districts, who have cultivated and maintained the mango and cashew trees, the remaining Districts’ plantation had been burnt by wild fire and this is a worrying situation,” he said.
Mr Yiah disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the sidelines of a Regional Economic Forum organized for Planning Officers and Directors from the 11 Districts in the Northern Region.
The day’s meeting would ‘create an avenue for the officers to review the GSOP initiatives and strategise and share ideas on the way forward.
GSOP is a six year project being funded by the International Development Association- World Bank, aimed at implementing social protection initiatives among other things to create employment to rural folks during the lean season.
Aside the climate change mitigation intervention, the project has other components including improvement of Feeder Roads, Rehabilitation of Dams and the implementation of various infrastructure projects.
He explained that all the districts were asked to identify a number of interventions to boost afforestation and make assessments for money to be disbursed to them to implement the projects.
“A visit to these districts indicates that most of these trees had been burnt, which means those responsible could not manage the project”, he added.
As part of measures to address the challenges, he said climate change focal persons in all the districts had been trained on how to manage these plantations.
Alhaji Yahaya Abdul-Rahman, GSOP Tamale Regional Coordinating Officer said signs of climate change were visible in the region and called on the district officers to make climate change issues a priority.
“If you have observed, the rain fall pattern has changed while the temperature in our region had also gone up so we need to ensure that such intervention works,” he said.
Source: GNA