AAG Communique on Climate Justice and Agroecology.
Communique from the national climate change conference organised by ActionAid Ghana and key partners at Alisa hotel in Accra on the 25th – 26th September 2024.
Background
Pursuant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 11, and 13, nations are called upon to take decisive actions towards eradicating extreme poverty, reducing hunger, fostering sustainable cities and communities, and addressing climate change. To advance these goals, ActionAid Ghana (AAG) convened its annual National Climate Change Conference on September 25th-26th, 2024, under the theme “Shifting the Finance from Fossil Fuels and Industrial Agriculture to Promoting Food Sovereignty through Agroecology and Indigenous Seed Development.”.
The conference was particularly impactful as it intensified ActionAid Ghana’s on-going work to enhance resilience against climate change through agroecology, indigenous seed development, and renewable energy adoption. The event also formed a core part of ActionAid’s global “Fund the Future Climate Justice Campaign”, which advocates for a just transition to a green economy that supports the needs of people and the planet.
At the heart of the discussions was the launch of ActionAid’s 2024 flagship report titled “How the Finance Flows: Corporate Capture of Public Finance Fueling the Climate Crisis in the Global South,” a sequel to an earlier report launched in 2023 titled “How the Finance Flows: The Banks Fueling the Climate Change Crisis." The 2024 report underscored systemic barriers hindering climate justice in the Global South.
Key Observations by the Report
•The world is at critical crossroads as the devastating effects of climate change become increasingly evident, impacting livelihoods and biodiversity. Global warming is driving erratic weather patterns, heatwaves, rising sea levels, and coastal erosion, leading to destructive floods, droughts, wildfires, and the extinction of endangered species.
•Ghana is not immune to these challenges. Notable events include the annual spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso and the Weija Dam in Greater Accra, both causing significant destruction to communities along the riverbanks. The 2023 Akosombo Dam spillage displaced over 35,000 people (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) across three regions, destroying livelihoods and homes. Furthermore, the severe drought during the 2024 cropping season, the worst since 1982/83, has heavily impacted food security in Ghana’s agricultural heartlands. The Minister for Food and Agriculture estimated the economic losses at GH¢3.5 billion in investments and GH¢10.4 billion in revenues.
Government interventions, such as a $500 million support package for affected farmers, have been announced, but concerns remain regarding transparency and accountability in disbursing the funds.
•Global warming results in the unusually rapid increase in the earth’s average surface temperature with attendant debilitating impacts. The destructive impacts of climate change are increasingly evident and being negatively manifested on human livelihoods and biodiversity. These include the heat waves, erratic rainfall patterns resulting in unpredictability of cropping seasons, an uncontrollable spate of crop pests and diseases, catastrophic floods, rising sea levels, and coastal erosion eating up human settlements, devasting droughts and bushfires, illegal and unsustainable logging and harvesting of forest resources, irresponsible and destructive mining of minerals popularly known in Ghana as ‘galamsey’, endangered animal species facing extinction, and worrying human illnesses and infectious diseases.
•The rising incidence of climate-induced disasters is becoming a humanitarian threat across the globe, and Ghana is also highly impacted. Among the major incidents worth noting is the annual spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso that consistently caused havoc to settlements along the embarkment of the White Volta. The spillage of the Weija Dam in the Greater Accra Region has also become a major occurrence that usually wreaks havoc on the lives and properties of the populace around the catchment areas. In 2023, Ghana’s biggest climate change-induced disaster was the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam spillage, which displaced 35,857 people from several communities in more than seven districts across three regions. The flood destroyed the inhabitants’ means of livelihoods, including crops, livestock, and most importantly, locally built homes.
•The drought experienced during the 2024 cropping season has a debilitating impact on food security. The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMET) predicted intermittent dry spells during this year's cropping season, but the situation turned into a prolonged drought, which is said to be the worst since the 1982/83 situation. Notably, eight geographic areas were heavily affected, namely the Northern, North-East, Upper West, Upper East, Bono, Bono East, and Oti Regions. Regrettably, the requisite proactive steps were not taken to provide adequate early warning signals to farmers to forestall the losses incurred. Eventually, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, in a national broadcast in August 2024, noted that the dry spell has resulted in significant losses for farmers, with an estimated investment loss of GH¢ 3.5 billion and a revenue loss of GH¢ 10.4 billion.
A foreseeable looming food security threat has therefore been occasioned, considering that these geographic zones provide 62% of Ghana’s staple grain supply. Accordingly, the government instituted measures, among which include an immediate ban on the export of major grains such as maize, rice, and soybean, and also announced a $500 million package to cushion affected farmers, expected to receive support worth GH¢1,000 ($64) per hectare. The major concern is the mechanisms for beneficiary targeting and the transparency and accountability measures for the disbursement of the support package. These funds must not be allowed to be misappropriated and embezzled into political
campaign financing.
Conference observations
The two-day conference similarly discussed key emerging issues and observed:
1.That there is a need to promote awareness on shifting the finance from fossil fuels and harmful industrial agriculture to agroecology and food sovereignty.
2.That there is the necessity to increase the recognition and contribution of indigenous agronomic practices and strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s food system in the face of climate change and global economic shocks.
3.That we also recognise food sovereignty as a right of people to define their own food and agricultural systems without external influences or interference, and farmers especially, have a right to the mode of production, which is a symbol of the freedom and cultural heritage of a particular people or area. Ghana needs to safeguard her food identity.
4.That some indigenous seeds and food varieties are becoming endangered across the country. This can be associated with the changing preference for food taste with the influx of hybrid seeds and food and the lack of government policies and programs that guide and provide the framework to safeguard, multiply, and protect key indigenous seeds from extinction.
5.That there is the urgency to engage various stakeholders and build alliances to assess what kind of indigenous seed exists in Ghana and promote indigenous seed production and storage in Ghana. Evidence shows that indigenous seeds promote sustainable agricultural practices by requiring fewer or no chemical inputs like pesticides and fertilisers.
6.That we advocate for improved agroecology public policies towards increased investment to strengthen indigenous seed development for food sovereignty in Ghana. This includes assessing what subsidies are contained in the planting for food and jobs phase II.
7.That the promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and other patented technologies creates legal and economic barriers for smallholder farmers, limiting their rights to save and exchange seeds. With the recent approval of the commercialisation of 14 GMO products, comprising eight (8) maize and six (6) soya bean,” by the National Biosafety Authority in Ghana, this cannot be ignored, as this has implications for smallholder food crop production, marketing, and food sovereignty in Ghana.
8.Over the years, CSOs in the agroecology space, including ActionAid and CIKOD, etc., have piloted strategies for organic farming, agroecology, and biodiversity conservation in Ghana by working with smallholder farmers. These strategies include the construction of seedbanks using local materials, the use of indigenous materials for compost production, the storage of seeds, and training on the preservation and storage of indigenous seeds. This notwithstanding, advocacy for the promotion and utilisation of indigenous seeds to achieve food sovereignty in Ghana is low.
Key Programmatic and Policy Demands
1.Urge government and transnational corporations, such as banks, to shift the finance from fossil fuels to renewable energy: It was revealed that over US$600 billion in public subsidies are currently misallocated to destructive industries such as fossil fuels and industrial agriculture in the Global South. Public financing should instead be invested in essential social services and sustainable development, reducing the vulnerabilities of climate-affected communities.
2.Call upon Polluter Nations to honour Climate Finance Commitments for Loss and Damage: Wealthier, high-polluting nations must meet their obligations by providing adequate, grant-based climate finance to vulnerable regions in the Global South.
3. Plead with government and state agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation to formulate a national policy for agroecology and expand awareness and hubs for agroecology. A dedicated policy on agroecology is urgently needed to promote organically produced food, which holds significant value for producers and should command distinct market recognition. It is also crucial to deepen understanding and scale up agroecological practices to conserve biodiversity and enhance food security.
4. Urge the government to de-invest in industrial agriculture and promote agroecology: Government agricultural programs should shift their focus and finance from industrial and invest more in sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation practices, research and development, as well as technology deployment. Governments, CSOs, universities, and research institutions should also invest in the training of professionals in sustainable agriculture to enhance mainstreaming agroecological practices. Some notable universities in Ghana, such as the University for Development Studies (UDS), the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), and the University for Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD), have programs related to agroecology.
5.Call on government, international partners, and transnational corporations to promote green livelihood opportunities: Create sustainable or alternate livelihood options for women and youth to help mitigate their involvement in environmentally harmful activities such as charcoal burning and illegal mining (“galamsey’) through sensitisation and exposure to green livelihood skills.
6. Appeal to Government to Prioritise Climate Information Systems (CIS): Strengthen the capacity of the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMET) to provide timely and accurate climate forecasts. The state must ensure that this information is accessible to farmers to improve climate resilience. The acquisition of 20 automatic weather stations by the government is a commendable step towards this goal.
ActionAid Ghana
7.Government, international partners, and CSOs should conduct a national inventory of indigenous seeds and increase investment in local seed research and development. An inventory should be undertaken to document and improve the viability of indigenous seeds, ActionAid Ghana’s community seed bank initiatives such as those in Asutifi-South and Tain districts, serving as a model for further exploration. Again, the government should provide more funding to research institutions like the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) to develop open-pollinated seed varieties that are better adapted to local climate conditions and reduce dependence on imported hybrid seeds.
8.Call on Parliament to review Ghana’s Biodiversity Law: Updating the law to support local communities in maintaining indigenous seed varieties is crucial to preserving food sovereignty and cultural heritage.
9.Appeal to Government to Adopt Renewable Energy in Agricultural Modernization: Prioritise the use of solar, wind, and biomass energy in agriculture, particularly for irrigation, mechanisation, and agro-processing in the promotion of agroecological practices. Pilot projects in Sawla and Jankoba demonstrate the benefits of renewable energy for year-round farming.
10.Call on Government to Prioritise Gender-Responsiveness of Policies and Programmes: Develop and implement policies that address women's specific needs and contributions to climate resilience and food sovereignty efforts. The first phase of the PFJ program failed to adequately support women-inclined crops such as groundnuts and other staple vegetables, and the PFJ 2.0 has also failed to cater for this.
11.Urge government agencies, civil society, and the private sector to strengthen inter-agency collaboration: Stakeholders must collaborate effectively to implement comprehensive climate resilience strategies and scale up climate adaptation measures.
This communiqué serves as a clarion call to action for the government, international partners, universities and research institutions, CSO, and all stakeholders for a systemic change and to take decisive steps towards a sustainable, climate-resilient future. Together, we can achieve food security, food sovereignty, and climate justice for all.
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