In Africa and other parts of the world, environmental destruction has led to extreme hunger and has also caused the impoverishment of many especially those who rely on farming for their livelihoods. Being naive about the climate change phenomenon, farmers still hold on to the old trend of farming where they were always assured of rainfall in certain times of the year. These farmers however become so much disappointed and lose their produce in many cases since the rains in recent times have become highly unpredictable. This has directly or indirectly contributed to the high level of poverty and famine especially in Africa and in some parts of Asia.

It is against this background that countries across the world have seen it an urgent need to come together on various platforms to have a discussion on how to globally address this phenomenon. The United Nations framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCC) meetings and the world summit on sustainable development (RIO +20) are examples of such platforms.          

In September 2000, Ghana along with 189 member states at the UN general assembly in New York adopted the millennium declaration and made historic promise to improve the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people around the globe through quantifiable time bound eight (8) millennium development goals (MDGs). Ghana again accompanied the MDGs with a higher goal of becoming a middle income country in the near future. This led to the introduction of successive medium term national development plans i.e:

• Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategies (GPRS I) 2003-2005
• Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) 2006-2009
• Ghana Shared Growth Development 2010-2013

Ghana's progress in achieving the MDGs is mixed. MDG 1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) and MDG 2 (Achieving a universal primary education) have made significant progress and Ghana is likely to attain them by the targeted year 2015. Goals 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases) is potentially achievable whiles goals 3 (Promote gender equality and empower women) is likely to be partially achieved. On the contrary, goal 4 (Reduce Child Mortality), goal 5 (Improve maternal health) and goal 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability) are showing limited improvements and are lagging behind. It is therefore imperative for Ghana to adopt the concept of building a green economy in order to make massive progress towards the achievement of these MDGs especially, MDG 7. This is because its related problems like flooding, if not addressed derails the progress made so far in other MDGs by inflicting more poverty on the people.

Green Economy according to the UNEP, is one that "results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive." Ghanaians therefore need a collective responsibility to ensure the building of such an economy. While the government and political leaders are expected to create green jobs for the youth, make and enforce policies that will help reduce deforestation and forest degradation, individuals at our community levels must also initiate projects that will help protect the environment. This will include but not limited to tree planting, distilling of chocked gutters and by proper management of our plastic waste by re-using them if possible or gathering them for recycling companies. The media in Ghana must also develop interest in issues of sustainable development and help in educating the general public.

 This I believe if pursued will put Ghana in a good position towards the building a gallant green Economy.