Ghana is already vulnerable to floods and droughts that damage property and lives. In recent times flooding events in northern Ghana alone have had serious consequences and sent a strong signal of the need for better flood control infrastructure in this part of the country. The prolonged extreme dry period that preceded the flood occurrence in September 2007, triggered among other things a national energy crisis due to the diminishing water level in the Volta Lake with the hydropower generating capacity just about falling to zero.
Climate forecast and climate change scenarios for the region predict a more severe and frequent pattern of such drought and flood events. Yet, contingency planning for adaptation to climate change has not gone at any significant scale.
Therefore, in 2009 the Water Resources Commission, with financial support from Danida, launched the two-year “Climate Change Adaptation in Water Resources Management” project. The objective of the project is to raise awareness of climate change and variability, and to strengthen the information in the three Northern Regions. Additionally, the project seeks to support communities to reduce livelihood vulnerability, develop adaptive and coping strategies in the use of water resources through integrated water resources management.
Project components
The project consists of three main components.
A strategy document for irrigation and water conservation is to be developed. The purpose is to develop a strategy to address the potential increase in water requirement for irrigation to meet flood security requirements under a scenario of limited available water and to promote and test specific water conservation measures, which may evolve into a water conservation policy for Northern Ghana
Also a further strengthening of the flood control and information services will be realized to facilitate adaptive measures to climate change. The purpose of this component is to provide the platform for measures to adequately address the impact of extensive floods under climate variability and change scenarios.
Finally, an enhanced involvement of the local communities is necessary in assessing the needs for adaptive measures to cope with impacts of severe weather conditions. The purpose is to build local capacity to access relevant information on climate change and water resources and control over livelihood resources. The Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment Framework shall be used drawing on community adaptable tools.
DHI’s involvement
DHI provides technical assistance to the Water Resources Commission for the implementation of the project and will assist in designing an appropriate framework for enhancing the involvement of local communities to cope with extreme weather events. Other tasks include:
- development of a strategy for increase of water for irrigation and water conservation
- modeling the water balance accounts for the White Volta river basin
- further strengthening of flood control and information services
- providing capacity building and training sessions on climate change adaptation