Ghana yesterday launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks (GSACR) and the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) to raise financial resources to finance climate change disasters.
The Global Shield against Climate Risk was formally launched during the COP 27 last year to help climate vulnerable countries to raise finance to finance climate change disasters.
Speaking at a workshop which was used to launch the initiatives in Accra on Tuesday, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the German government during COP 27, provided 85.5 million to support the fund.
He said further pledges to Global Shield included 35 million Danish kroner (about 4.7 million euros) from Denmark, 10 million euros from Ireland, $7 million from Canada, 20 million euros from France and the recent 30 million euros from the European Union.
“These ground breaking initiatives mark a significant step forward in our collective efforts to tackle the immense challenges posed by climate change,” Mr Ofori-Atta stated.
He said Global Shield seeks to establish pre-arranged, trigger-based financing mechanisms to ensure timely and effective responses to climate-related challenges, while the GRMA was an initiative that aims to assess country risk and provide essential data for decision-making on solutions to manage climate risks, drive in new adaptation investments.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Afriyie, said the launch of the GSACR and the GRMA were
steps in the right direction.
That, he said, would help to increase protection for climate-vulnerable economies like Ghana and communities by providing substantially more and better pre-arranged and trigger-based finance against disasters and climate risks.
Ghana will continue to stand together with other climate vulnerable countries and be at the frontline of the global discourse on climate change.
“Our vulnerability is also one of our greatest strengths. Our communities are finding innovative ways to adapt to climate change. Our global leadership is resulting in significant progress at the global level,” Dr Afriyie stated.
He appealed to the developed economies to honour their pledge of providing $100 billion annually to developing countries to tackle climate change.
“Developed countries are still failing to meet their commitment to mobilise US$100 billion in climate finance annually for developing countries, a promise made over a decade ago that was meant to be fulfilled by 2020,” he stated.
Development Director of African Risk Capacity, (ARC), Beth Cadman, appealed to the Ghanaian government to take advantage of the ARC to be able to withstand shocks such as floods and drought.
“We hope very much that Ghana will choose to join ARC and take out flood or drought insurance or both, in the coming year. Over $1.5 billion of risk is transferred off climate vulnerable countries balance sheets every year in Africa and the Caribbean alone and we want to do more,” he said.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
