Hon. Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Works and Housing has reiterated that Ghana is committed to combating climate change.
He noted that one of the biggest challenges and risks facing the world’s population was the global extreme hydro-meteorological conditions, which include frequent perennial floods and droughts, as well as potential disputes over water usage, because of increased demand on water resources.
Hon. Asenso-Boakye made the remarks at a two-day workshop on the establishment of the Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS) in Accra, Ghana.
The HydroSOS was initiated and launched in 2018 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to help produce analysis regularly of the current global hydrological condition and an outlook assessment of how the water situation may change over sub-seasonal to seasonal scales and taking into consideration the need to link this initiative closely with other related WMO activities.
The Accra meeting, which is being attended by participants from Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland seeks to create awareness of the HydroSOS in Ghana and strengthen the collaboration between meteorologists/hydrologists and the stakeholders.
It is being organised by the Ghana Meteorological Agency in collaboration with the Hydrological Services Department, the Water Resources Commission, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the WMO.
He noted that the need to establish an operational global monitoring system such as the HydroSoS which could assess the current situation of surface and groundwater hydrological systems, or for forecasting how they would change in the future cannot be overemphasized.
Eric Asuman, the Acting Director-General, Ghana Meteorological Agency said hydrological conditions of floods and droughts globally and their associated effect on potential conflicts in water usage were some of the greatest challenges and threats facing the world’s population today.
He said access to climate information jointly produced by scientists was an essential resort to climate-smart adaptation strategies to improve climate risk management.
Professors Alan Jenkins, Deputy Director, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said the HydroSOS community was growing around the world and that a lot of the United Nations member countries were now taking interest in it.
