Ghana's appreciable level of consciousness about Climate Change is a mark of progress but can be meaningful if the country can translate that consciousness into measures that seek to arrest the consequences of the negative effects of the menace, Hon. Sherry Ayittey, Minister for Environment Science and Technology has observed.

But according to the Minister, the desire to translate the consciousness into measures would become a reality if the international community made good their pledges under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation to support Ghana to move the process forward.

She is strongly convinced that Ghana has done more than enough in its effort at developing policies and strategies as well as implementing schemes to mitigate the adverse implications of Climate Change.

Indeed, all these should qualify us as a country to secure financial and technical support from the international community to effectively manage climate change. I'm therefore using this platform as an opportunity to appeal to the bilateral and multilateral agencies, NGO's and foundations to make good their pledges to support Ghana to move forward, she added.

Hon. Ayittey made these remarks in Accra recently at a stakeholder briefing to generate comments and questions on a case study report dubbed Where the Rain Falls.

The study, commissioned by Care International and the United Nations University Institute of Environment and Human Security, seeks to address the changing weather pattern, food insecurity and human mobility which affect the world?s most vulnerable people.

The findings of the study is expected to be presented and subsequently launched at the upcoming 18th Conference of Parties (COP18) to be held in Doha Qatar in November this year.

The study covered four communities in the Nadowli District of the Upper West Region. The criteria for selecting the communities included agriculture, rainfall variability, high poverty rate and the vulnerability of the region to drought and floods.

The study is under a three-year project that was initiated by the two institutions and funded by John D and Catherine T. MacArthur and the AXA group, and prosecuted in eight countries.

Hon. Ayittey maintained that the report was a demonstration of how far the two organisations had gone in their quest to promote participatory development, and contributing to the pool of information which could be relied upon by government and development organisations to develop policies and programmes.

She stressed that for the world to make meaningful progress in its efforts to mitigate and adapt to the causes and negative effects of Climate Change, research had to be taken serious.

Ghana, she said, has indeed undertaken various studies to guide us in our quest to manage climate change. These include a study to assess the impacts, vulnerability and adaptation practices. As a country, we have also undertaken studies on inventory of National Green House Gas emission sources, a climate change technology needs and first and second national communications to the United Nations Convention Climate Change among others.

According to her, even in the absence of Climate Change awareness and discourse in the past, Ghana as a country had always been concerned about issues relating to food security, social inequality and migration. She said with the emerging awareness about Climate Change and its possible effects, which have already started showing signs and been projected to deepen in years to come, Ghana had no option but to find ways of adapting as well as curtailing our sources of green house gas emissions.

It has therefore become clear that we need to double our efforts at tackling these issues than ever before since such phenomena are likely to escalate, she advised.

The Country Director of Care International, Mr Phil Christensen, maintained that research was a critical component in the design of development intervention in terms of policies, programmes and strategies.

Mr Christensen observed that Ghana appeared to be ahead of other countries in providing space for civil society activities, but there remained room for improvement, particularly in the area of acting upon their recommendations.

In other words Civil Society have been guaranteed the right to free speech but there remains more room for their right to be heeded, taking into consideration the closeness of NGOs and civil society Organisation to the people at the community level, which is also the basic level of Ghana's decentralization policy, he advised.

He lauded the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology and its implementing agencies, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency, for the extent to which they have continuously opened their doors for civil society organisations in the Climate Change and sustainable development discourse in the country.

On her part, Ms Yakuso Kusakari, Socio-Economist at the United Nations University, assured that her outfit would continue generating and sharing knowledge which serves as building blocks for planning and decision making.