BOLGATANGA, Ghana, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- An official speaking at a three-day climate change advocacy workshop in Bolgatanga, Ghana's Upper East Region, on Wednesday decried the annual back-to-back climate change whiplash in the five regions of northern Ghana, affecting the lives of at least 5.8 million people.
Jesse Kazapoe, Head of the White Volta Basin Directorate of the Water Resources Commission (WRC) of Ghana, noted during his presentation that the territory is hit by long spells of drought annually, which are suddenly followed by devastating floods when the rains set in.
According to Kazapoe, while prolonged droughts affect food security due to low agricultural yields, they also affect water security as surface water levels drop and groundwater recharge rates decline, leading to low yields in both large and small town water systems within the five regions.
Meanwhile, on the other extreme, he said the frequent floods, often exacerbated by the spillage of water from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, also create more havoc, destroying water distribution infrastructure, small-town water systems, and farms, with an increase in water-borne diseases.
"The drying of the Volta Basin, shifting rainfall patterns with shorter, more intense wet seasons; rising temperatures faster than the global average at 0.6 degrees Celsius per decade in northern Ghana; and the increasing frequency of floods and droughts impact living conditions in the regions negatively," Kazapoe said.
According to the official, the vulnerable communities, as well as women, children, individuals with disabilities, and displaced people, suffer the worst consequences of climate change.
"For us at the WRC, climate change is ultimately about how the water cycle is changing and how society responds to those changes, because climate change is water change," he highlighted.
According to him, climate change has become the biggest threat to water security in Ghana, raising the need for irrigation as rainfall becomes unreliable for farming. ■