Honour your promises now – Okyeame Kwame tells western leaders

 Mr Kwame Nsiah-Apau, popularly known as Okyeame Kwame, a famous Ghanaian musician, has urged leaders of western nations to honour their climate financial commitment to enable Ghana and other African nations to adapt to climate change impacts.

“A few days ago some 3,000 people in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana were rendered homeless after a tidal wave swept their homes at dawn. We are witnessing so much flooding. Rainfall pattern has changed and it is affecting our cocoa production,” he said.

Mr Nsiah-Apau, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the on-going COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, said the impact of climate change was real and was being felt thought-out the country.

“The G20 acknowledge that Africa’s contribution to emission is very little, yet the continent is the hardest hit by climate impacts. It is important the West, whose development endeavour resulted in this phenomenon, show responsibility and act accordingly,” he said.

Being a Climate Change Ambassador of a number of projects, he said he joined the Climate protest at Glasgow to urge world leaders to go beyond the rhetoric and move to action to save the world.

“I am here on behalf of the communities around Jomoro whose only river they depend on dries up quickly at the onset of the dry season due to high temperature. It is important world leaders get to know that climate change impact is making people more vulnerable,” Okyeame Kwame said.

Individuals also had a role to play to save nature by changing their eating habits, managing their garbage and ensuring efficient energy consumption, he said.

“Instead of beef, people should opt for plant protein because livestock alone contribute 18 per cent of carbon emission. We have to make it a point to unplug our phones when they are fully charged, and turn off electrical gadgets when leaving the house,” he said.

Okyeame Kwame noted that as part of the post-COP26 initiatives, some 10,000 people would be mobilized by the end of the year to support the advocacy as well as extend climate education to schools.

The global meeting COP26, which has assembled some 30,000 delegates including world leaders and innovators, is seeking to discuss and identify ways to accelerate climate action over the next week.

A millstone attained in the past week of the conference is a promise by more than 100 world leaders, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to tackle deforestation, which plays a critical role in absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

A total of 450 organisations controlling $130 trillion dollars – around 40 per cent of global private assets – agreed to back “clean” technology.

This story was produced as part of the 2021 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Centre for Peace and Security.