We Must Ensure That COP21 Paris Agreement Climate Funding For Ghana Does Not End Up Being Siphoned Off Into Private Pockets

The historic Paris Agreement,  reached at the summit meeting of the 21st session of the United Nations Framework  Convention On Climate Change  Conference Of The Parties (COP21), which took place in the French capital of Paris, has been hailed around the world with just reason.

It really is global in scope - encompassing all the vulnerable island states surrounded by the world's oceans, as well as nations in all the continents of our biosphere. It was signed by representatives from a total of 192 nations who attended COP21.

For the first time, virtually all the nations of the world have committed to cut carbon emissions, under the Paris Agreement, which comes into effect in 2020. The goal of the Paris Agreement, is to ensure that Global temperature increase will be kept below 2C and limited to figures a great deal below 1.5C.

The agreement strikes a balance between the inherent right of nations to develop their economies to ensure a high standard of living for their people, and the pressing need for humankind to protect our only home, the planet Earth.

It promises developing countries $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020. Progress on the Paris Agreement's implementation will be reviewed every five years.

Unfortunately, although nations like Ghana have not contributed much to the phenomenon of  global warming, our country nonetheless is being severely impacted by global climate change.

We are now experiencing extremes in weather - evidenced by long drought periods and severe flooding across the country during rainy seasons.

It has resulted in Ghana's  hydropower generating plants not being as reliable in supplying cheap electricity to the nation as they once were.

And every year, flooding results in tragic deaths across the country - and it causes damage costing hundreds of millions of cedis to properties in villages, towns and cities nationwide.

The change in weather patterns has also had, and continues to have, a negative impact, on the agricultural sector - and it ultimately threatens food security in  Ghana.

Above all, global climate change could affect the quality of life of present and future generations of our people, if we don't plan well, and put in place suitable mitigatation measures.

We need to protect what is left of our country's natural heritage much more effectively, if future generations are to, at the very least, enjoy the same quality of life and standard of living as today's generation of  our people do - if not better.

Parliament must pass tough new laws that will deter the greedy and selfish few, now busy destroying Ghana's natural heritage by felling trees illegally, winning sand illegally and mining gold illegally across the countryside in all the ten regions, for private gain at society's expense, with such impunity.

We must counteract the possibility of creeping desertification to the north of our borders, by encouraging private-sector investment in agro-forestry tree plantations countrywide - with special emphasis on the three northern regions, and the Eastern, Central and Brong Ahafo regions.

There is also an urgent  need for Ghana to implement disaster-risk reduction measures and build disaster resilience into our system.

By using the simple technology of mixing melted plastic waste with bitumen, for example, we can build plastic roads. They last three time longer than ordinary roads, bear heavier loads, remain pothole-free during their entire lifespan, and, aren't washed away by flash floods, because plastic is impermeable to water.

At a time when Ghana is being negatively impacted by global warming, it is a cost-effective way, to climate-change-proof our entire road network, going forward into the future.

For the Paris Agreement to benefit Ghanaian society, generally, civil society organisations in Ghana that play an advocacy role and campaign for sustainable development, need to work closely with private-sector entities, such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), for example, which is playing a leadership role in encouraging Corporate Ghana to commit to sustainability initiatives in their CSR budgets.

It is such alliances  - and a sustained interest in the subject by the Ghanaian media, which ought to effectively play its societal watchdog role in this instance, by monitoring the implementation of the Paris Agreement by our ruling elites - that will help ensure that any climate finance under the COP21 Paris Agreement, which is meant for Ghana, does not succumb to public sector-led high-level corruption:  and eventually end up being siphoned into private pockets.

The  COP21 Paris Agreement's climate funds are meant to help build up our nation's defences against what is an existential threat - not to enrich Ghana's crooks-in-high-places and their thieving-proficient private-sector cronies through fraudulent climate-change mitigation initiatives and ghost low-carbon development projects.

POST SCRIPT

Our ruling elites are capable of anything. Some of us have long memories: We have not forgotten the fraudulent sale and purchase agreement for Valco to a non-existent partnership, International Aluminium Partners - purported to be a joint-venture between VALE of Brazil and Norske Hydro of Norway, but both of which vehemently denied any such partnership to purchase Valco when spoken to by Reuters - that was railroaded through Parliament by the corrupt and hypocritical New Patriotic Party regime of President Kufuor in 2008.

Nothing much seems to have changed under the present National Democratic Congress regime of President Mahama, either- and high-level corruption still persists  in Ghana today.  Some believe it is even worse now. Yet, if our nation is to progress, we must tackle the nation-wrecking greed of our ruling elites head on,  and take drastic measures, to finally end impunity in Ghana.