A new study reveals that roughly 3 million people can move from northern Ghana to the south due to the severe effects of climate change.
The revelation was revealed at the graduation ceremony of 18 students in Ghana, under resilience to research and policy advocacy projects in social change.
Researchers warn that the mass movement could have serious socioeconomic implications for both rural and urban areas.
At graduation, researcher and beneficiary of the European Union Reach, David Kee, emphasized the urgency of the situation.
“The estimated temperature rise, which we've seen as a good look at the current emissions scenario, is about one degree higher by 2050, which would be about 2.6 million people migrating from northern Ghana. So these numbers are very surprising and we need to take them to policy makers. That means they have an impact on the city centre and the centre of origin where the migrants come. So it goes in both directions and there will be both positive and negative effects on the transition.
“So what we need to do is comprehensive policy decisions that look at both urban and destination areas. For example, policies need to consider ways to ensure the cultivation of more climate-resistant crops. So, from research, corn appears as one of the most highly tolerant beings in climate change.
Dr. Birhanu Zemadim said he is the Associate Country Director of the International Institute of Water Management. The findings said it would help stakeholders design targeted interventions to control rural migration.
“While celebrating these academic achievements, we also provide dialogue opportunities today. This is a space where students engage stakeholders to explore the meaning of student research findings. We will discuss how these insights will affect policy, development strategies and future research efforts, particularly in areas such as gender, migration, and climate resilience. Together, we will identify knowledge gaps and determine the next steps to ensure that climate resilience efforts are based on sound and evidence-based strategies.
“As we move forward with today's programmes, remember that the knowledge these graduate students share is just the beginning of long-term and collaborative efforts to build a more climate-sensitive future. As we work on our research and discuss future actions, we encourage all of us to continue to work together, build on this momentum and promote collaboration, innovation and policy change that will and will continue to promote climate resilience.”
The event also featured the EU delegation's cooperation officer with Ghana in Masimomina, who emphasized that the EU Ghana Partnership is committed to tracking climate change and promoting policy conversations.
“The interest of this research is that it can be directly adapted to the development of scientific, robust, rigorous, informed policies, which are important, and therefore directly adapted to the development of new initiatives that take these factors into consideration.
“These are important because it is part of a much broader Ghana agriculture programme and there are components related to very practical and concrete activities to support agribusiness and support climate change resilience.
The Reach-STR project aims to promote comprehensive and sustainable economic policies in northern Ghana by 2025.
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