ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

alternate energy sources (i.e., fossil based or alternative) in an attempt to meet shortfalls and ever increasingdemand.In Ghana, the issue of gas flaring from the Jubilee Oil field has created concern and controversy in civilsociety and donor countries. Given the substantial production, the gas from the Jubilee Oil Field will need tobe stored, transported, or flared. Further, the infrastructure to pipe gas ashore will not be ready as oilproduction is initiated and ramped up, and re-injection of gas after ramp-up may not be feasible as oncethought. Long-term gas flaring at the Jubilee Field may be inevitable without accelerated development ofinfrastructure for storage, shipping, and processing of the gas.Prolonged gas flaring of the Jubilee natural gas would produce about 1.5 million tons of CO 2 annually (7percent of Ghana’s total national emissions). If the gas is used in a power plant, >13,000 barrels of oil/dayare saved and 0.9 million tons of CO 2 emissions are avoided. The total emissions reduction potential fromusing the gas for power production instead of flaring is 2.4 million tons CO 2 equivalent or 10 percent ofnational emissions. Unfortunately, if gas infrastructure development is projected to take four years to becomereality and high re-injection capacities are not feasible, the life of this valuable gas field will be reduced byabout 20 percent (16 versus 20 years), an estimated 152-228 billion standard cubic feet of gas will be lost forenergy production, and some 6 million tons of CO 2 will be released.Oil and gas development is in its infancy but pressure on land prices and housing availability onshore hasalready occurred. Planned development of a gas pipeline and onshore uses (e.g., electric power generation,fertilizer plant, liquefied petroleum gas) likely will occur without adequate planning or mitigation of impactson local communities. The over-inflated expectations in the press of the wealth to be derived from oil and gasdevelopment could lead to social unrest in coastal communities, especially since the GoG has side-stepped anattempt to designate a fixed percentage of revenues to the region.NORTHERN SAVANNA CASE STUDYSome key vulnerabilities to climate change in Ghana’s three northern regions include high rates of illiteracy(>73 percent in most districts), and relatively underdeveloped infrastructure compared with other parts of thecountry (water sources, road infrastructure). USAID is well positioned to address these vulnerabilities.Significant obstacles to increasing the food security of farm communities in the northern regions areuncontrolled annual bushfires, declining soil fertility causing reduced productivity, and lack of access toaffordable operating capital. The attraction of quick cash from making and selling charcoal for sale in thesouth draws young people away from farming. Such harvesting appears to be unsustainable and will add tosoil erosion problems, affect local climate, perhaps accelerate desertification, and will eventually produce anunemployed segment of the population lacking in marketable skills. Adding to these problems is a shortage ofdry season grazing and water for livestock, free-ranging livestock, and an influx of migrant pastoralists fromthe north. These factors can and are interacting to produce a downward spiral for soils, forests, farming, andfarmers. Climate variability contributes to current food insecurity, which will be exacerbated by a changingclimate.A number of adaptations to climate variability and climate change are documented in Ghana’s threepredominantly rural, agriculturally dependent northern regions. These adaptations include changingagricultural practices, diversifying livelihood strategies outside of the agricultural sector, and increasingmigration to southern Ghana and urban areas. There are a number of opportunities to support climatechange adaptation in northern Ghana through USAID’s Feed the Future program because of its focus onincreasing the livelihood security of households. It is important to take a community-based approach todeveloping and implementing specific interventions to support both food security and climate changeadaptation to ensure that they are appropriate to the local context and will be beneficial. Such an approachcalls for helping communities identify their own vulnerabilities and develop their own adaptation strategies.Addressing food security by focusing on the entire value chain appears to be the most promising approach,although there is room for better alignment between needs and current activities. Community-basedGHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 11