Accra — We can no longer afford to ignore warnings of Climate change and desertification in Ghana.

This follows revelations by the Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) that 49 out of the 138 districts in Ghana are in the desert, (See story on Page 4).

If the statistics are anything to go by, about 35 percent of Ghana's landmass is desert, not to forget about the speed with which the desertification is catching up on us.

According to the EPA, desertification is creeping at an estimated 20,000 hectares per year, with the attendant destruction of farmlands and livelihoods.

Already some environmental experts have warned that the current low level of water in the Akosombo Dam is due to desertification, which has affected the tributaries of the dam in northern parts of the country.

Increasing air temperature, heat waves, rising sea level, drought and storms are some of the impacts of climatic change Ghanaians, like other people elsewhere will be compelled to live with it unless we change our attitudes.

It is estimated that hydropower generation will be affected by climate change, leading to about 60% reduction in available water in all basins by 2020. Ghana is already having her fair share of the impact of hydropower generation. Some of our big rivers, which sustained wildlife, are drying up very fast.

According to the EPA findings a vulnerability and assessment done for maize, millet, rice and sorghum shows that the yield of maize, which is a main staple crop in Ghana would decrease to 6.9% by 2020.

This calls for a balance between our natural resources and the population if we are to preserve the environment for future generations.

Certainly, with a rapid population growth of 2% much pressure will be put on food and water resources, as urbanisation increases.

The government needs no reminder that climate change poses a challenge to democratic sustenance since the overall objective of democratic governance is to secure equitable development for society.

Government should therefore build the capacities of frontline agencies such as the EPA and the Forestry Commission to promote sustainability. In doing that we have to review our policy on logging and stop taking pride in the amount of revenue timber generates for the economy, since every single dollar that is earned from timber is at the expense of the forest.