Mainstreaming climate change into development planning

The need to mainstream climate change into development planning is particularly underscored by the fact that Ghana is already experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change. Recurrent drought, flood and climate induced diseases such as malaria and cerebrospinal meningitis in most parts of the country and the associated loss of property and lives can be ascribed to climate change. Relief and rehabilitation efforts have become a constant major drain on Ghana’s development drive.
The need to mainstream climate change into development planning is particularly underscored by the fact that Ghana is already experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change. Recurrent drought, flood and climate induced diseases such as malaria and cerebrospinal meningitis in most parts of the country and the associated loss of property and lives can be ascribed to climate change. Relief and rehabilitation efforts have become a constant major drain on Ghana’s development drive.
But much less attention has been paid to making development more resilient to climate change, its related disasters and impacts. Current efforts appear to be largely driven by emergency and hardly consider the long-term ripple implications on life and property.
It was emphasised at the Mole 21 that climate change should be considered and treated as one of the external factors that can have an intense direct or indirect consequence on WASH services delivery. And since WASH services delivery and poverty reduction were mutually dependent on each other, it was imperative to balance poverty reduction interventions with climate change adaptation strategies to maximise benefits, especially for local populations.
Presenting a paper on  Integrating Climate Change into National Development Planning ,   Winfred Nelson of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)   acknowledged that national development goals could be hampered by ignoring climate change and disaster risk reduction issues.
It is a truism that G…