RELBONET Ghana now has a web site

RELBONET (Religious Bodies Network on Climate Change) of Ghana now has a web site which can be accessed here: http://www.relbonet.org/

RELBONET is an interfaith environmental organisation which is interested in establishing Eco-Congregation in Ghana. people who attended our Annual Gathering will have heard RELBONET coordinator Charles Agboklu speak about their work. A copy of his presentation can be found here (PDF file).

Durban 2012 COP17 Climate Summit Report

Charles Agboklu of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana and coordinator of the Religious Bodies network on Climate Change has written an informative report about the Durban conference for the All African Conference of Churches.

Excerpt:

Faith Based Organizations share in the sentiments and actions that will make equity, justice and ethical considerations central to future global negotiations. Alliances with independent bodies that share like minds on our common humanity are a sure way forward to impressing on the polluting nations that there is no substitute to planet earth. All actions must therefore be geared towards strengthening the VOICE for the demands of equity, justice and fair play during future Conference of Parties.

To download the full report (pdf file) click here.

Article from Daily Graphic newspaper of Ghana

An article was published recently in the Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana. Written by Charles Agboklu of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana it explains how the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance has sought to influence decision makers at COP17 in Durban.

........The major issues that are of great concern to Africa as represented in PACJA considerations  include the drastic reduction of Green House Gases (GHG)  that are responsible for global warming as provided for in the Kyoto Protocol,  unimpeded access to global adaptation and mitigation funds,  finance, technology transfer and capacity building . Other concerns include the structure and allocation of global climatefunds, unredeemed pledges made by the developed industrial countries, [Annex 1] since Copenhagen, composition of governing boards for the implementation of the Africa Green Fund and other ancillary issues. Regarding global warming, PACJA insists that global temperatures caused by polluting countries in the North be drastically reduced to well below 1.5 degrees as prescribed by climate scientists under the UNFCCC.  PACJA further argues that any increase beyond 1.5 is injurious to Africa which is already reeling under the current levels and will have dire consequences for agriculture, health and food security. Climate science has proved that any further increases in global mean temperatures will result in temperature rise which is one and half times more in Africa than any other continent. Africa is therefore in the frontline of the devastating effects of climate change as already being experienced through persistent floods, extensive coastal erosion, prolonged droughts, very low agricultural yields  and crop failures in some African countries even though it is the least emitting continent of Green House Gases. 

You can read the full article here (PDF file):

http://uploads.ecocongregationscotland.org/assets/roadmap-to-durban-final1.pdf

If you are interested in the Durban conference, one of our supporters called Claire is travelling with the Caravan of Hope. You can read about what she is doing here.

Ghana - Religious Bodies Network on Climate Change

Churches in Ghana have formed an organisation called RELBONET (The Religious Bodies Network on Climate Change). They write:

The issues of climate change have reached alarming proportions especially in Africa, where climate effects are wrecking havoc and pain on the rural poor through massive relocation of peoples from their original positions through excessive floods, crop failures due to climate variability, erosion of coastal areas and threats of desertification.
These effects have implications for food safety and security, health and education in African countries that are already known to be vulnerable to these disasters.
The Religious Bodies Network on Climate Change [RELBONET] in Ghana has decided to raise a platform which shall enable them better understand the issues of climate change and its effects. The rationale for that decision is to position them to better carry out advocacy for the legislation of good climate policies and actions by Government to stem the tide of climate effects and enhance sustainable development efforts in Ghana.

RELBONET recently held a three day conference on climate change the report of which can be downloaded here (pdf file).

It is interesting that the conclusions they reached about public engagement with government policy, and the ability of churches to reach people are so similar to what we have found here in Scotland with Eco-Congregation:

The Conference ended very successfully and called for regular interactions between RELBONET, policy makers and implementers as they sought to do in their strategic plan. Continuous education and public awareness activities are to take centre stage throughout the country by member organizations and their representatives and organs to spread throughout the country. RELBONET called on Government, Development Partners and INGOS to seriously engage and partner Religious Bodies in all stakeholder events in order to enrich their discourses and plans. RELBONET is to use its numerical advantage to reach out to a critical mass of citizens with behavioral change messages from the pulpits and their schools, colleges and universities which are properly positioned for such interventions.

Photographs of the conference:

How the EP Church in Ghana is Combating Climate Change

As you may know from our previous article, the EP Church in Ghana (the main Presbyterian denomination in the country) has begun work to reduce the effects of climate change. This includes planting two million trees across several areas of the country.

For full details about their current work see this article:
http://www.arcworld.org/news.asp?pageID=460

Here are some photographs of the reforestation project including the nursery where the tree saplings are grown:

Like the rest of Africa, Ghana is already experiencing problems associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

These are obvious in the following areas:

• Poor and erratic rainfall pattern which is very unpredictable and, as a result, has an impact on good agricultural practices.
• Poor yields of agricultural produce, which leads to greater malnutrition and has serious implications for people’s health and ability to learn.
• Mass movement of people from the rural agricultural settlements to the urban centres of the country in search of other job avenues.
• Poor and unacceptable mining practices that are leading to massive land degradation. 
• Former arable lands are gradually being destroyed because of illegal and unacceptable mining methods.
• Deforestation especially through the activities of timber companies and chain saw operators. As a result the forest areas are being turned into savannah regions.
• Changes in the distribution of tree species are, in turn, having an impact on biodiversity.
• Desertification and pollution of rivers and other water sources are greatly harming humans as well as other ecosystems.
• Excessive pollution of the atmosphere by the excessive fumes from imported second hand vehicles and increase in temperature.
• Increased flooding, sea erosion of the coastal belt, rising sea levels, intrusion of seawater into freshwater areas and loss of wetlands.

Climate change has directly and indirectly exacerbated the incidence of poverty. One
notable effect of these occurrences on health is malnutrition caused by crop failure
which resluts in low and poor yields. The economy of the state is therefore greatly
affected.

The EP Church hopes to set up an Eco-Congregation type programme which will link churches, local schools and the wider community.

Interview with Charles Agboklu of the Evangelical Presbytrerian Church of Ghana climate change programme

Carol Finlay of the Church of Scotland World Mission Council recently interviewed Charles Agboklu about the work the EP church is doing to combat climate change. You can listen to the 30 minute interview below: