Climate Change and Adaptation in Urban Areas

Everywhere I go my mind is filled with climate change: vulnerability and adaptation. I live in the capital of Ghana, Accra, at a suburb called South La Estates. La is also known by many as Labadi. When I first got to my new place about a year ago, I thought that was all Labadi was until Monday when I had to pick a mini-bus (known in Ghana as trotro) to work and I got to know Labadi proper. Whilst the driver meandered through the streets of the “other Labadi” I was seeing, I couldn’t help but think of how differently Climate Change would affect the two Labadis I am seeing: the well-planned South Labadi with clean drains and the slum Labadi I was seeing now.

In places like Labadi and other slums in Accra and other places most of the buildings are sub-standard and obviously not suitable for habitation. Most of these residents are tenants and have no power to develop quality buildings and their landlords are exploiting them. Such residents are usually economic refugees who have moved to the city to seek greener pastures; most of whom inhabit very marginal areas. The influx of people into such marginal and usually flood-prone areas coupled with lack of planning in infrastructure makes them highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change including extreme flooding and storms.

We are all vulnerable to climate change but the effects will be disproportionate depending on how one will be able to adapt. The recent floods that have happened in Accra and other places bring to the fore the unfortunate reality that urban communities are increasingly becoming very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. One may argue that such flooding as witnessed may be due to other factors other than climate change but I believe that climate change is one of the factors. Even if it is not, we are being awakened to the vulnerability of urban populations to floods and storms; which are projected to increase in the face of climate change.

It is time to act locally to save our people and urban communities to adapt to the effects of climate change. The local governments should be resourced well to plan adaptation strategies for urban dwellers, especially those in slums. This is not the time to decide which communities or settlements are legal or illegal. It is time to plan and save. This will need everybody to get on deck: local governments, donor agencies, central government and vulnerable communities. People should be made aware of climate change and its effects and also whip-up their willingness to act.

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My Water Quality, My Life Expectancy

It is well acknowledged that water forms a bigger part of man. "The total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 liters, averaging 57% of his total body weight. In baby who has just been born, water may constitute about 75% of the body weight; very high, according to Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology. So generally, about 60% of the body weight of any human being is made up water!

Water is really important then, because the water in the body must be constantly replaced. With what do we replace the water in our bodies? With water, of course! It therefore means that the water we drink to keep our bodies functioning properly has to be of really high quality if we really want to have a quality life. In Ghana, many households are without access to clean water and these households are forced to use unhygienic sources of water. Even those who are privileged to be connected to the distribution lines of the Ghana Water Company do not receive any water through their pipes. And when these taps flow, the kind of water that comes out can’t be called quality. Just fetch pipe water in a bucket, allow it to settle and you will be amazed by what you will see settled at the bottom of the water.

Whenever I remember that water makes up about two-thirds of man and I also look at the quality of water I have flowing through my taps for me to use to replace the water that comes out of me through various means, it becomes not so difficult to understand why it is estimated that most Ghanaians will not really live long. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth is around 57 years according to the World Bank (2008) (http://data.worldbank.org/country/ghana). With Ghana aiming at achieving 85% coverage for water supply and sanitation by 2015, which would exceed the Millennium Development Goals' target of 78%, I hope our life expectancy at birth will also increase.

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Biodiversity: We can only manage what we have

I have done some random searches and realised, unfortunately, that Ghana does not have a proper, up-to-date checklist of important biodiversity in the country! I won’t be very surprised if such is the situation in many countries. Well, this may be a reflection of the importance we place on biodiversity. As a result, when they are disappearing, we don’t seem to notice and even when we have noticed, we look on helpless.

The truth is people can only manage what they know they have. The lack of proper data on a country’s biodiversity hinders the country’s ability to estimate more accurately what species are being lost because there is no baseline to compare with. And the economic impact of such losses also becomes difficult to estimate because we have not placed any value on our biodiversity. Increasingly in the current dispensation, when the impact of something cannot be estimated in monetary terms, many are quick to overlook it.

Managing our environment sustainably should not be a burden on us. There is the need to re-orient ourselves: we should realise that a lot of revenue can be generated by proper management of our biodiversity. We should not be quick to always clear the forest, fill our valleys and block waterways as a must for development. A good natural environment should not be treated as an obstacle to development. The environment should not be seen as a tax on our development, a mortgage on our future or a constraint on employment. If we are to have a better way of knowing how much biodiversity we have and also to monitor the environmental, economic and social impact of biodiversity loss, then there is a great need for investments into data collection to ascertain what biodiversity is available to the country and how to manage them for the perpetual flow of benefits to all sectors of the country.

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