Accra: Ghana is advancing efforts to integrate climate adaptation into development planning, but financial constraints continue to hinder full execution. Progress has been driven by the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) Project, led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with sectoral partners. Since its inception in 2020, the initiative has established crucial foundations for long-term resilience.
According to Ghana News Agency, 'The NAPs have helped us develop technical structures and planning tools that embed climate thinking into Ghana's policy and development processes,' Nana Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, NAP Project Coordinator, told the agency in Accra. He said the EPA has developed national climate projections and ecosystem-specific scenarios to guide decisions at all levels of government.
Dr Amoah highlighted that these projections and vulnerability assessments, completed for more than 40 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), will now inform localised adaptation strategies. The NAP has also supported the groundwork for the recently passed EPA Act, which now includes climate change as part of its statutory mandate.
The project has facilitated climate change public awareness campaigns and the creation of a Climate Ambassador System, mobilising influential voices from traditional authorities, the media, religious leaders, and the security services to champion climate action. Additionally, the NAP has engaged the private sector, including banks and financial institutions, to assess climate risks and promote climate-resilient investment decisions.
Despite these gains, Dr Amoah acknowledged persistent gaps, particularly around funding, public awareness, and investment planning. 'There are still capacity challenges across our 261 assemblies. Equipping them with the tools and knowledge to implement climate-resilient plans requires substantial resources,' he said.
Dr Amoah pointed out that low public environmental literacy remained a challenge and addressing it is resource-intensive. He noted that costing adaptation measures is not cheap, and assigning economic value to non-market benefits, like ecosystem services, remains a significant barrier to mobilizing adaptation finance.
He appealed to Ghana's development partners to sustain support for adaptation initiatives and help bridge the financing gap, emphasizing the thin line between development and climate adaptation. Dr Amoah stressed the importance of intentional climate-resilient investments in Ghana's development agenda to prevent climate change from eroding development gains.
Ghana's NAP is primarily financed by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), alongside contributions from the NAP Global Network, IISD, UNCDF's LoCAL Initiative, WaterAid Ghana, Global Center on Adaptation, SYND, YefL Ghana, and Global Affairs Canada through the SIGRA project. It promotes evidence-based planning, local ownership, and integration with national policy.
