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Youth Climate Council, a youth-led activist group in Ghana, partnered with Africa Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICCGH), Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO), United Youth Initiative for Africa, Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) and Youth Bridge Foundation to successfully undertake post COP26 consultation workshop in Accra.
The event which was held on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at the MJ Grand hotel sought to reflect on the outcomes of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Glasgow in 2021 and further discuss the roadmap for COP 27 to be held in Egypt later this year.
Speaking to ghanaenvironment.com, Emmanuel Ameyaw, Communication and Outreach Officer of YCC said the workshop seeks to educate young Ghanaians on the outcomes of COP 26 and assess government commitment to tackling climate change.
“This is one of the many workshops we would be doing in the gear up to COP 27 in Egypt. This particular workshop seeks to reflect on the outcomes of COP26. After the COP a lot of people have expressed disappointment in terms of the outcomes. People said it was not biting enough and countries have not shown commitment when it comes to climate action. This event looked at the outcome of COP 26 and what it means to the Ghanaian youth and why we can track the government’s effort on tackling climate change.” Mr Ameyaw said.
The post COP26 consultation workshop invited authorities and experts from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to bring young Ghanaians up to speed, on reactions, measures and key outcomes on Mitigation, Adaptation, Finance, Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) and other salient discussions at COP26 in Glasgow.
Dr Emmanuel Takyi Obeng, Principal Programme Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency who talked on the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) said that there is a national decision to properly organize programmes with schedules to educate young Ghanaians on issues of climate change. He said an excellent response to climate change is educating the youth and integrating climate education into the curriculum of school children.
Dr Takyi Obeng hinted that his outfit will implement formal and non-formal education and training programmes focused on climate change at all levels, targeting the involvement of women and youth in particular. This will integrate climate change learning and strengthen education and skills development in national development to deliver action on climate change.
Also, Dr Tutu Benefoh, Deputy Director at the Climate Change Unit of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Ghanaian youth must understand the need to be concerned about issues of climate change and the roles they play to mitigate its dangers in future.
“The youth must participate in issues of climate change, as individuals or as a group. Your active and constructive engagement in decision making is more important because it will define what will happen in future. This is not a government, or business or academic discussion but life-changing issues that are happening very gradually.” Said Dr Benefoh
The YCC Ghana is a youth-led activist group set up to assist young people in the country in terms of capacity building and providing resources to enhance their work on the grassroots level. The group also collaborate with young climate activists and youth-led NGOs that are focused primarily on the environment and climate change.
Source: GH Environment
Emmanuel Ameyaw
