It’s difficult to speak about climate resilience when your own home is underwater.

That was my reality at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference in Germany. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling.

One moment, I was addressing a room full of investors, policymakers and conservation leaders about forest finance. The next, I was checking my phone for updates from home as heavy rains left parts of Accra underwater, including my own home.

It reminded me why these conversations matter.

When forests are destroyed, rivers polluted and environmental laws ignored, the cost is not only measured in hectares lost or carbon emissions. It’s measured in families displaced, businesses interrupted, children unable to get to school, and people wondering how they’ll rebuild after the waters recede.

At a session hosted by the Federal Ministry of Environment, I shared Ghana’s story beyond mere statistics, as a lived experience.

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About communities that pay the highest price for environmental destruction despite contributing the least to it.

Forest finance must do more than protect trees. It must protect people.

Because behind every climate report, every investment decision and every policy paper are real lives waiting for real action.

Destruction of forests, might not be the only cause of this disaster, but it is a huge contributor to it. I hope my story reminds us that sustainability is not a future conversation. For millions of people, it is today’s reality.

I appreciate stakeholders in the room for the opportunity to hear me out including State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Jochen Flasbarth, IUCN Director General, Dr. Grethel Aguilar, renowned journalist and founder of the Healthy Planet – Healthy People Foundation, Dr. med. Eckart von Hirschhausen, Dr. Verena Sommer, Katharina Lehmann-Uschner, Anja Schoch, Jörg Eigendorf, Tidhar Wald, Philine Kruse, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH etc.

The author, Kenneth Awotwe Darko is a multimedia journalist with interests in climate change, sustainability and culture . He is also a fellow of the Africa Youth Negotiators Fellowship (AYNF).

Email: Kennethdrk@gmail.com