Climate change focused organisation launched in Upper East Region

A new organisation dubbed 'Greenthfaith Bolgatanga Cycle' has been launched to rally religious stakeholders to combat climate change and mitigate its impact on food security. The new organisation, a subsidiary of Greenfaith Ghana and Greenfaith Africa, seeks to leverage on the influence of religious leaders and bodies to empower communities within the Bolgatanga Municipality to protect the environment and adopt climate smart practices to enhance agriculture production. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Bolgatanga, Mr Hilary Adongo, Coordinator, Greenfaith Bolgatanga Cycle, said the impact of climate was multifaceted, particularly threatening food security and needed collective efforts to ensure adaptation. He said apart from the high temperatures and erratic rainfall leading to prolonged droughts and poor rainfall distribution as well as flooding as result of climate change, the phenomenon had adversely affected agriculture production. He said household and community food systems were b eing threatened due to poor yields resulting from climate effects and there was the urgent need to empower rural communities to adapt to the changing climate and withstand the impacts. 'One of the pillars of Greenfaith Africa and Greenfaith Ghana is that we believe faith leaders have influence that can be tapped to address climate change issues and other social challenges,' he said. Going forward, he said, the organisation would work with religious leaders to engage communities and other stakeholders with focus on ensuring food security and improvement in livelihoods. 'Our focus is to encourage people to engage in home gardening, address food losses through food preservation. So, we will engage schoolchildren, farmers, churches and sensitise them on food security,' he added. Source: Ghana News Agency