The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in partnership with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has developed the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Framework that will guide and advance Ghana in its climate change adaptation measures.

The NAP document, which was developed, with funding from the United States In-country Support Programme, being managed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, is expected to provide an overall framework to guide the country in developing, coordinating and implementing it adaptation process.

The framework also proposes a more sectoral-based approach to climate change adaptation planning in the country, with the EPA coordinating the development of an overarching NAP, and with adaptation priorities identified for key sectors such as agriculture, forestry, water, energy, gender and health.

The EPA as the main coordinator of the NAP had organised a day’s media engagement to deepen the media’s understanding of the framework and to solicit its support in sensitising the various stakeholders on the NAP process.

Dr Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, Principal Programme Officer, Climate Vulnerabilities and Adaptation, EPA, said through the engagement, the media’s attention was being drawn to the issues of climate change and the importance of the framework plan in addressing the adaptation issues from the long term perspective.

He said the process of developing the actual adaptation plan, being sponsored by the Global Climate Fund (GCF) would begin early next year, and so the media engagement was the first of such meetings planned ahead of the processes.

He mentioned that other stakeholder institutions including Parliament, as well as Coordinating Directors and District Chief Executives at the assembly level as critical stakeholders in the planning process would also be engage in the knowledge sharing exercise.

Dr Amoah explained that adaptation measures were systems that could help the country to reduce the impact of climate change, saying the county have over the years been responding to emergencies through NADMO, but proper adaptation planning would involve early warning systems, and safe havens for evacuation, among others.

“So under the framework, we have captured the vision of Ghana, as far as climate change adaptation is concerned, our main goal has also been captured, we have also captured sectors that we want to focus on and then we have also captured the key stakeholders that we want to be with.

“We have also addressed key principles such as the principles of indigenous knowledge- blending knowledge from the traditional systems to the scientific community”.

He said Ghana had about three years to complete the development of the adaptation plan, which was being done in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, saying within the next 36 months, EPA would be very busy with the adaptation planning issues.

Professor Kwame Karikari, Board Chairman of the Graphic Communications Group, urged the Media to pay critical attention to the issues of climate change and the environment in general, so they could not only educate the public on best practices, but also expose wrongful practices of individuals and institutions that negatively impact on the environment.