The Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Jinapor has challenged the world to break the silo mentality in dealing with climate change issues.

Mr Jinapor has been promoting multilateralism at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27 in Egypt.

He told a Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) panel that “the issue of multilateralism in dealing with climate change is one that cannot be overemphasised”.

He was emphatic that working “in silos will not give us the results”.

Mr Jinapor said, “first of all, it will not give us ownership, it will not engender inclusivity and it will not engender sustainability”.

The Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) is a UK government initiative to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. 

Under the initiative, a total of some $16.5 billion will be spent to protect and restore forests. The UK government first made a $12 billion pledge at COP26 in Glasgow last year. At the launch of the initiative on the sidelines of COP27 in Egypt, a further $4.5 billion from public and private donors was pledged.

26 countries and the European Union – which together account for over 33% of the world’s forests and nearly 60% of the world’s GDP will participate in the initiative.

The FCLP is co-chaired by the United States and Ghana.

The Lands and Natural Resources Minister has been re-asserting Ghana’s commitment to the initiative which he says promotes global collaboration on climate change.

He said “When you look at the agriculture commodity production system and the linkage between producer countries and consumer countries, the need for multilateralism is even more important than ever and that is why this initiative is absolutely commendable”