The clarion call by many Ghanaians in recent times to rise and find nature-based solutions to the climate crisis in the country has intensified. It demonstrates how critical it is for us to resolve the issue before nature takes its complete course.
Temperatures in Africa have risen by at least 0.5°C in the previous 50 to 100 years. According to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Africa is particularly sensitive to climate change. There is no doubt that the effects of climate change are beginning to be felt all over the world, particularly in developing countries that are most vulnerable. Climate change and climate variability may pose severe difficulties to national development unless procedures are properly and systematically put in place to enhance resilience in development and decrease susceptibility.
Our daily actions in the country have polluted the air as a result of the poisonous gasses it has been saturated with, the sea levels keep rising as they are constantly filled with unwanted objects that destroy the home of aquatic lives, and the land refuses to produce as it’s choked with unwanted materials. Heat waves are more common, fueling the flames of wildfires, threatening the habitats of wildlife, and causing droughts that endanger food and clean water stability.
Ten years from today, if effective solutions are not developed to address the climate crisis, nature will have its way to becoming unstoppable by man’s sophisticated technology. The current crisis the planet is facing was started by the actions of man, thus, it is man’s responsibility to repair the damages done.
As the climate issue worsens, how can we address people’s increasing vulnerability to quicken environmental change while simultaneously assisting people and wildlife in adapting?
This can be done by proposing Nature-Based Solutions for Ghana.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines Nature-Based Solutions as actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, while also providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits, with common societal challenges cited as climate change, food security, disaster risks, water security, social and economic development, and human health. To achieve high quality and integrity, Nature-Based Solutions must be applied with particular standards, criteria, and benchmarks by humans.
Nature-Based Solutions to climate issues are usually more cost-effective, last longer, and offer a variety of synergistic advantages, such as:
- Aiding our society and economy in their adaptation to climate change.
- Lowering net emissions.
- Making cities and towns more resilient and pleasant places to live and work.
- Contributing to human health and well-being.
- Creating biodiversity environments.
For millennia, indigenous peoples and local communities have relied on natural remedies. All solutions must be people-centered, directed by communities, and based on traditional and local knowledge. Nature-based solutions must be inclusive, transparent, designed with regard for land rights and local people’s perspectives, and the benefits must be spread evenly.
It is argued that Nature-Based Solutions have disadvantages including:
- Promoting detrimental corporate operations, green washing continuing carbon emissions, and environmental damage.
- It is founded on the same assumption as the problem. We appear to be modifying the environment to meet our desires. A genuine response would be to adapt our necessities to the environment. We are presently cancer to the earth. We used to be more of a symbiotic relationship.
Nature-based solutions can assist in resolving problems:
- Water security. Providing long-term access to enough, high-quality water to support livelihoods, human well-being, development, disaster preparedness, and ecosystem preservation.
- Food security. Ensures that individuals have sufficient, secure, and nutritious food that satisfies their dietary needs and food choices to live an active and healthy life.
- Human health. Improving mental and physical well-being and minimizing disease transmission caused by habitat loss or the eating and commercialization of animals.
- Climate change mitigation. Nature has a significant impact on the global climate system. When used properly, nature-based solutions can lessen the need for experimental techniques of carbon capture and storage.
Why Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked
- There is little profit to be earned, and nature-based solutions sometimes come at the expense of current enterprises.
- The objective is not to solve the problem but to profit from it.
- It is overlooked since not all alternatives are followed with the requisite amount of zeal.
- Our current ‘infinite growth’ economic model is directly responsible for the mass degradation of our ecosystem. Any “solutions” are merely a waste of time until it is addressed and altered.
- Because we have an obsession with technology and contempt for indigenous understanding.
- People do not want to do the necessary things, which is to give up many modern luxuries. They’d rather turn a blind eye.
Many have argued that natural-based solutions cannot be profitable, yet natural alternatives are quite inexpensive and would cost the country’s economy less money. Bamboo, for example, is an excellent wood substitute that grows like a plant and matures far quicker than trees, as does hemp. A lot of money might be saved if production evolved to manage these items. All that is required is an investment in the market for extremely simple to make natural items. It appears to be a no-brainer. Replanting is terrific, but there is a lot of plastic waste and fuel utilization that has to be reduced before these trees can truly benefit. It is critical that we transition away from fossil fuels and drastically reduce our reliance on gasoline.
Nature-based Solutions can assist people in adapting to the effects of change and disasters while also reducing warming and maintaining biodiversity, with far more positive outcomes, fewer risks, and cheaper costs than engineering-based alternatives.
References:
- Understanding the importance and limitations of nature-based solutions to climate change and other global concerns | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (royalsocietypublishing.org)
- Are Nature-Based Solutions the key to Africa’s climate response? | African Development Bank – Building today, a better Africa tomorrow (afdb.org)
- Climate Change Is a Growing Threat to Africa | United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Author: Elizabeth Dwamena-Asare
Editor: Priscilla Nyamekye Appiah
Photo by Bob Chisholm on Unsplash
