Seven communities assess impact of climate change

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) are implementing a project on how communities in the Upper West Region could adapt to climate change to increase agricultural production and food security.

The project would determine climatic hazards such as drought, storms, floods in the communities and their level of vulnerability when these natural disasters occur, strategies to fight them and whether external support would be needed.

The two organizations organized a workshop at Jirapa on Thursday to share information on findings on climate change adaptation in Doggoh community with representatives from relevant Agencies in Jirapa and Lawra which are the beneficiary districts.

The workshop also sought to find out how these agencies could be of help to the communities in managing disaster vulnerability in order to fine-tune each community’s vision.

Dr Jesse Naab, Senior Research Scientist and Head of Upper West office of SARI who briefed newsmen on the project at the workshop in Jirapa, said the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) project is being implemented in 15 countries with Ghana, Burkina Faso Mali and Niger being the beneficiaries in West Africa.

The beneficiary communities in Ghana are Doggoh, Jefiri, Bazu and Kulkaani in the Jirapa District while Bompaari, Orbili and Tuori from the Lawra district are the other beneficiaries.

Dr Naab said some members of these communities were facilitated to visit southern Burkina Faso in October to see analogue sites and study the similarities.

He said the project, which stated last year with land surveys and gender studies on how climate change affects women, would last 10 years.

According to him, 2,000 trees of various species such as, mango, cashew and mahogany had already been planted in Doggoh community as part of the project.