By: Joyce Gyekye
Ghana is reviewing her Nationally Determined Contributions, NDC 2 of the Paris Agreement as it compiles NDC 3.
The third national document which will be submitted during the Conference of Parties, COP 30 next year will this time capture the contributions of CSOs in the environment. To this end, the International Union of Conservation of Nature, IUCU Ghana has organized a forum, to build the capacities of CSOs on the new framework that serve as the basis for the country’s climate action.
Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs are commitments that countries make to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. These commitments include the necessary policies and measures for achieving the global targets set out in the Paris Agreement.
Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, NDCs have to be updated every five years and Ghana is currently implementing its second edition. During the Conference of Parties, COP 30, next year, countries are supposed to present another updated NDCs. Previous ones by the country didn’t capture the roles and actions of CSOs in achieving Ghana’s climate action, though they contribute so much.
It is to strengthen their capacities that IUCN brought KASA, an umbrella CSOs in environment to be educated on the processes and guidelines for the updated NDCs and how to make their inputs into the document. The Coordinator, KASA Initiative, Jonathan Goka said it has become imperative for the contributions of CSOs to be captured in the NDC 3, hence the need to know the procedures to capture their activities.
He noted that “The absence of our input in previous NDCs affected our fund-raising efforts because we couldn’t demonstrate our response to government’s priorities as we generally relate our activities to that of government activities. The Project Coordinator, International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN Dorcas Owusuaa Agyei said upon realizing the information gab among stakeholders on the processes regarding capturing climate actions towards the NDCs, saw the need to get them educated on the modalities.
She said” Having a separate or not separate reporting template is a dicey issue but all we want is for our contributions to be recognized and measured and be part of the national targets as the key institutions are also recognized. Mrs. Dorcas Agyei called for a concert effort from members to meet their target of making their inputs into the NDC3 considering the fact that they have only seven months to do that.
The Focal Person of the UNFCCC, Ghana, Dr. Daniel Benefor who took participants through the processes in reviewing the NDCs and guidelines for the CSOs to make their inputs, assured members of his readiness to assist them giving the limited time to compile the document. He said other CSOs that are not members of KASA Initiative will also be engaged in the course of time. KASA Initiative is made up of a coalition of CSOs including forestry, mining, climate change and fisheries.