VZCZCXRO8957
PP RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL
RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAR #1291/01 3410235
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070235Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8599
INFO RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN PRIORITY 0020
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 001291 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/SECC, OES/EGC, OES/PCI, AF/W 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG EFIN EAID GH
SUBJECT: GHANA HOLDS NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE FORUM IN ADVANCE OF 
COPENHAGEN 
 
PORTIONS OF THIS CABLE ARE SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.  NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On December 2, Ghana held its National Climate 
Change Forum in advance of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the 
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen. 
Environment, Science and Technology Minister Sherry Ayittey 
announced that Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills would attend 
the Copenhagen Summit.  Both the minister and Ghanaian Vice 
President John Dramani Mahama made clear that Ghana would seek 
substantial financial and technical assistance from the developed 
world to cope with the impacts of climate change, whose costs could 
reach $300-400 million per year in Ghana.  Encouragingly, the VP 
also argued that Ghanaians needed to adopt more energy efficient 
lifestyles, and he announced that the country would launch a large 
scale reforestation and afforestation program in 2010.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) On December 2, Ghana held its National Climate Change Forum 
in preparation for the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. 
 
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Ghana Wants a Fair Deal and Assistance 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Environment, Science and Technology Minister Sherry Ayittey 
announced that President John Evans Atta Mills would attend the 
Copenhagen Summit.  She said that Ghana would seek a "fair, 
equitable and just deal" at Copenhagen that includes substantial 
financial and technical assistance and capacity building from the 
developed world to help the country cope with the effects of climate 
change.  She noted that the costs of mitigating and adapting to 
climate change could be in the range of $300-$400 million per year 
between 2010 and 2050, including addressing issues of agricultural 
practices, water resource management, migration and erosion. 
 
-------------------- 
VP's Keynote Address 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) In his keynote address, Ghanaian Vice President John Dramani 
Mahama began by noting that Africa is responsible for only three 
percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but the continent 
is a "hotspot" where climate change impacts could be the greatest, 
financial resources are already strained, and the current capacity 
to cope with the problem is very limited.  Accordingly, developed 
countries will need to scale up their assistance to developing 
countries, including Ghana, to help them undertake climate change 
mitigation and adaptation efforts. 
 
¶5. (U) The VP also repeated familiar Africa Group and G77 demands 
that developed countries should commit to reduce their greenhouse 
gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020.  At the same time, 
he argued that Ghanaians should be encouraged in the coming years to 
adopt more environmentally sound lifestyles (e.g., through the use 
of energy efficient light bulbs), and the country should seek to 
generate more power from wind, solar and other renewable sources of 
energy.  In addition, he noted that Ghana would launch a "massive" 
reforestation and afforestation program in 2010. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Will Cocoa Become the Ghanaian Polar Bear? 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) Mr. E. O. Nsenkyire, the Chairman of Ghana's National Climate 
Change Committee, noted that the committee is currently preparing 
the country's national climate change mitigation and adaptation 
plan.  He also warned that cocoa could be the "Ghanaian Polar Bear." 
 If current trends continue unchecked, cocoa might not grow at all 
in Ghana by 2080, because of the cocoa plant's sensitivities to 
temperature changes and sunlight conditions.  Some 800,000 small 
households dependent on cocoa farming for their livelihoods could be 
affected, in addition to the fact that 63% of foreign agricultural 
export revenues are derived from cocoa. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Ghana Must be More Environmentally Responsible 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7. (U) Okyehene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin II, an Eastern Region 
traditional ruler who has been very active on environmental causes, 
urged Ghanaians to behave with more environmental responsibility and 
to try and live more in harmony with nature.  He pointed out that 
the air and water, "the two liquids that sustain us," have become 
the "national garbage cans," with air pollution rampant, and solid 
and liquid waste management in an "appalling" state in Ghana.  He 
argued that gold mining was poisoning Ghana's water resources and 
 
ACCRA 00001291  002 OF 002 
 
 
breeding more mosquitoes, exacerbating the country's serious malaria 
problem.  He also warned that overpopulation could become a major 
cause of environmental degradation, and Ghana should adopt policies 
that would lead to a drop in the total fertility rate and help to 
cap Ghana's population at no more than 24 million people. 
 
¶8. (U) Ghana would need to state its case for assistance at 
Copenhagen clearly and forcefully, he noted, even though Ghana would 
be negotiating with "the guys who already give us aid," and it is 
difficult to "fight a man and beg him at the same time." 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Keep a Constructive Tone at Copenhagen 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Togolese Ambassador to Ghana Jean-Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, the 
dean of the Accra diplomatic corps, appealed for "serenity to 
prevail over passions" at the Copenhagen Summit.  In his view, a 
constructive approach was most likely to lead to a successful 
climate change deal. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶10. (SBU) Encouragingly, Ghana's National Climate Change Forum was 
not simply an exercise in blaming developed countries for global 
warming and demanding massive amounts of assistance to cope with the 
effects of climate change.  Both the VP and Okyehene were careful to 
balance their remarks and to point out ways in which Ghanaians 
themselves could help to begin solving the climate change problem 
and to improve the environment in Ghana. 
 
TEITELBAUM