NGO engages stakeholders on methane emissions management  

The Friends of the Nation (FoN), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has organised a stakeholder engagement to discuss the national response towards mitigating methane emissions from the troposphere to address global warming and reduce climate change in the country. 

The engagement, held under the Methane Advocacy Project, formed part of the framework and roadmap on what Ghana was doing to the on-going global discussions to keep methane emissions in check.

It brought together stakeholders from the media, industry, academia, District Assemblies, and civil society organisations in the Western Region.

Mr William Augustine-Denkyi, a Project Officer with FoN, said the meeting was meant to provide an overview of global and national methane reduction strategies, and present and gather feedback on Ghana’s draft on methane mitigation measures. 

He said per Global Methane Assessment, reducing global methane emissions by 40-45 per cent by 2030 was critical to keeping global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold of the Paris Agreement.

 He said: “Reducing just one million tons of methane emissions can prevent approximately 1,430 pre-mature deaths, 740 from respiratory and 690 from cardiovascular diseases, 4,000 asthma-related emergency visits, 90,000 hospitalisation and the annual loss of 145,000 tons of staple crops”.

Mr Augustine-Denkyi said the outcome of the engagement would help deepen understanding of global and national methane management priorities, including health, climate and economic implications.

Alhaji Abu Mahama, Development Planning Officer at the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, said waste management was one of the main sources of methane emissions. 

“Because of this, we have initiated the sustainable waste management strategy at the household level, and by next year, we will provide three bins to each household to contain organic, inorganic, and solid waste as part of the bio-digester cluster project to reduce emissions,” he stated. 

Engineer Douglas Ahinkorah Asuako-Ferkah, Area Head of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in charge of the  Ellembelle, Nzema-East and Jomoro municipalities, said methane was a life-threatening phenomenon so something must be done to control its emissions by 2030.

Participants at the meeting stressed the need to strengthen the national tree planting exercise to reduce methane emissions, while urging city authorities to prioritise proper waste management mechanisms. 

Source: GNA

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