Dr Eugene Owusu, the Presidential Advisor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says the time for the world to act to address the threat of Climate Change is now.
He said the debate over global warming and Climate Change was now decisively settled , stating that in the face of overwhelming evidence, even the most ardent and long-standing sceptics and climate change deniers have had no option than to pivot and accept the reality of our dangerously changing planet.
“The climate crisis has indeed become an immediate threat; a pressing, clear and present danger. It is tantamount to a slow train wreck with catastrophic consequences along the way,” Dr Owusu stated at the Royal Dialogue on Climate Action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Ofori Panin Palace in Kyebi in the Eastern Region.
“The glaciers are melting and closer home our own weather patterns are irreversibly changing. So pervasive and acute is the effect of climate change that now there is inconvertible evidence that Africa – this continent’s rare mountain glaciers are set to disappear.”
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The overarching objective of the Royal Dialogue is to provide a forum for reflection and dialogue on Climate Action and the SDGs, and define collective actions at the sub-national level to accelerate progress towards the SDGs and Ghana’s commitment under the Paris Agreement.
The pre-26th United Nations Climate Change conference (pre-COP26) event under the patronage of Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin is being organized by the SDGs Advisory Unit, Office of the President and the Okyeman Environment Foundation.
The Royal Dialogue brought together business leaders, development partners, social innovators, senior academicians and thought leaders, very senior professionals from civil society and policy think tanks, members of the diplomatic community, and a large number of professionals working in the Climate Change and SDGs space across the country.
Dr Owusu noted that the decision to partner with the Okyeman Environment Foundation to hold the pre-COP26 event in Kyebi was in recognition of the Okyenhene’s strong passion, advocacy and leadership of the climate agenda.
“Ominously, the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue. It is an all-encompassing threat to human health, agriculture, peace and security and the global economy as a whole,” the Presidential Advisor stated.
He intimated that sadly, the frequent and extreme weather situations and disasters that the world was experiencing were the consequences of human actions and that human influence was indeed to blame.
“The time for course correction is Now! We must as a matter of urgency rebalance our relationship with our planet and nature and unconditionally fulfil the promise of the Paris Agreement if we are to have a fighting chance of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” Dr Owusu said.
“But the good news is that our world has the wherewithal – the knowledge, the technology, the capacities and I dare say the resources to address the climate crisis.”
The Presidential Advisor said the key to success, however, was in our collective political will, saying, “We must frontally address the deficit in political will, and we cherish the hope that COP26 will become the much-needed game-changer”.
Dr Owusu assured the Okyenhene that they did not intend to make the Royal Dialogue just an event, declaring that “But rather, we are committed to use it as a foundation to build a progressive coalition to champion urgent collective climate actions and to fully implement the Kyebi Declaration which we will come out with at the end of this historic convening”.
Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin reiterated his commitment to the Paris Climate Change Accord.
He reaffirmed that the Akyem Abuakwa State was committed to making its contribution to the Paris Climate Accord.
