Government is not sponsoring a delegation of about 350 persons attending the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) in Egypt, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology has said.
This is despite the fact that Ghana's official attendance contains a list of over 300 persons pooled from across the public and private sectors.
According to Mrs. Cynthia Asare Bediako, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MESTI) most of the attendees are being sponsored by development partners.
“It is the responsibility of MESTI to coordinate and register persons attending the annual meeting. This does not mean the government is sponsoring all of these delegates. Delegates travelling on government tickets are not many,” she told the Ghana News Agency in an exclusive interview.
On the sources of funding, she explained: “Their funding is sourced from different agencies, including Global Environment Facility- UNFCCC, World Bank, Climate Vulnerability Forum, UNDP and UNICEF.
"These agencies also sponsor some government of Ghana officials to participate in the conference,” she added.
Sector minister, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, who is attending the conference as part of the presidential delegation, last week disclosed that over 320 persons were due to attend from Ghana.
He explained that out of a total of 322 people attending - registered at the time, participants from government institutions account for 226, while those from non-state actors are 72 and those belonging to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) are 24.
“Half of the number on the government platform are NGOs and partner institutions who decided to go through some institutions to be registered,” he clarified.
“Therefore, the actual government staff attending the COP is about 150…People attending this will be participating in diverse programming including negotiations, workshops, side events and bilateral meetings. Sponsorships are also from diverse sources,” he stressed.
Akufo-Addo leads COP 27 delegation
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo arrived in Egypt on Sunday as leader of Ghana’s delegation of climate negotiators to COP 27.
COP 27, scheduled for November 7 to 18, is being hosted in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
It will provide the platform for climate activists and negotiators to discuss, propose actions and make decisions towards facilitating the implementation of the various Articles of the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow Climate Pact.
At a Pre-COP media briefing organised by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation in Accra, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, sector Minister, said Ghana’s team was ready to present the real needs of the African people at the conference.
“Ghana will participate actively at the negotiations, and the Presidency implementation summit and also host a number of events at the Ghana Pavilion.
“We will launch the Article six framework and sign some additional bilateral agreements with Sweden and Singapore. Other sectors will host events relating to their mandate, i.e., energy, forestry, transport, finance etc,” Dr Afriyie stated.
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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is leading the government delegation to the conference