This Technology Transfer Advances Ghana's

• Nationally Determined Contribution to increase climate resilience and decrease vulnerability for agriculture and food security sector, by adopting disaster prevention actions such as early warning systems.   

Context

The economy of Ghana relies mainly on sectors as agriculture, energy and water, all these sectors are sensitive to climate change. Due to the limited use of irrigation in Ghana, the majority of the agricultural areas are very vulnerable to changes to the climatic conditions such as temperature and increased frequency of flood and drought events. The climate change Technology Needs Assessments report (TNA) from 2013 identifies the agricultural sector and the water sector as the main sectors in need of adaptation technology for climate change. 

Requested CTCN Response

CTCN support aims at providing adaptation methods and capacity for improved dry season planning taking climate change and variability into account. It is anticipated that specific focus will be given to the following technologies:

Data availability: Data availability is one of the key areas in any warning or information management systems. The use of satellite based data will be strengthened by methods for automated download and processing of relevant satellite data. The aim is to avail near real time satellite products related to the crop, climate and soil moisture conditions and impacts.

Climate forecast: Seamless weather forecasting functionalities enabling climate forecast across different temporal scales from short to seasonal to decadal periods will be explored, as well as skill assessment (including comparison with climatology based forecast).  The CTCN support will enable the use of climate forecast products and skill calculations applicable for Ghana.

Early warning: Early warnings relevant to the water and agriculture sectors based on the near real time satellite information and forecasted climate products. The criteria for the early warning categories are to be determined through the national stakeholders’ consultation.

Planning: Planning methods incorporating the early warning assessments and the uncertainty associated with climate predictions will be addressed in the proposed support. The request will support the identification of solutions that are robust and resilient towards droughts. Experience and knowledge from other projects will be incorporated into the proposed request.

Dissemination: The dissemination and outreach part of a warning and forecast system is one of the key components. The main applicant (WRC) will be responsible for ensuring functionalities the dissemination of the results can be embedded into the current practices in Ghana.

Relevant Technologies and Approaches

• Community-run early warning systems
• Seasonal to interannual weather forecast
• Climate change monitoring
• Drought risk mapping

Expected Results:

• Transfer and capacity building of practices and technologies for climate change adaptation aligned with the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) and the technology needs assessment report (TNA).
• Decision makers and stakeholders empowered to use the transferred knowledge, practices and technologies actively in the dry season planning.
• Increased use of advanced technologies and enhanced knowledge and awareness of the impact of climate change and climate variability on dry season management.
• Improved capacity for inclusion of climate change and climate variability into dry season management.