Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the HATOF Foundation, Mary-Jane Enchill, has described Ghana’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) as the country’s "official road map" for building resilience against the impacts of climate change.

Speaking during the JoyNews National Dialogue on Coordinating Climate Actions on Thursday, July 3, she explained the dual focus of climate action and the importance of the NAP in addressing local vulnerabilities.

“So I think the issue of climate change, of course, like everybody is saying, it's not a one on business, and when we talk of climate change, we are looking at two main issues, adaptation and mitigation. Of course, mitigation has to do with reducing emissions from the atmosphere, and adaptation has to do with actions that are being taken to prepare or lessen the negative impacts of climate change,” she said.

Highlighting her involvement in the development of the plan, she added, “The National Adaptation Plan is actually Ghana's official road map, I will say, towards preparing as to how to live or lessen the negative impact of climate change on communities, on our sectors or vulnerable groups like you mentioned, like women and then the elderly or the youth in our community.”

She also noted that the NAP was recently validated and is focused on five key sectors.

“It looks at agriculture. How do we promote activities in terms of implements and projects in the agricultural space that is resilient to rainfall variability and the rise of climate change or temperature rise. And then also looks at cities. How do we make our cities resilience? How do we ensure that there's enough water management ecosystems are adapting to the impact of climate change,” she explained.

She emphasised the need for strong communication strategies to make the technical aspects of the plan accessible.

“This document is actually bulky and technical as well. So, implementing it requires that everyone is on board and how do we do that? That's how storytelling comes to bear, or public awareness becomes an issue, a tool that is very important to getting this information across.”

She stressed the power of relatable storytelling, saying, “So one very key thing that I think we can do as part of storytelling is to humanize the nap process or the plan. And how do we do that, telling the real stories of how farmers are adapting to how farmers are using or adapting to promoting or promoting drought resilience, crops and farming, how women are moving or adapting to clean cook stoves... how young people are at the forefront restoring ecosystems for it to be able to sequester a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere.”

To ensure broader public engagement, Mary-Jane called for communication in local languages, referencing a quote often attributed to Nelson Mandela,

“If you talk to me in a language that I understand, or you talk to a man in the language that he understands, you are talking to the head. But if you speak in the mother tongue of that person, you're actually speaking to the heart.”

She added by underlining the role of community connection in climate efforts,

“So when we are talking about NAP and how it will be implemented, or adaptation plans and how it be implemented, we should be able to communicate in such a way that the individual you are talking to appreciates what we are talking about.”