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Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Impacts on the social fabric of the community and well-being of the individuals and families.

Social Impact

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

**Harmonize with nature** by promoting infrastructure, production systems and sourcing that allows natural ecosystems to thrive




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Regenerate

The built environment, including housing, commercial buildings, and the necessary infrastructure for mobility, is essential for our livelihoods, but:
- the extraction of minerals used to produce construction materials is responsible for a quarter of global land use change,
- approximately 40% of global GHG emissions can be attributed to buildings’ construction, use and demolition, and
- construction and demolition processes drive nearly one-third of all material consumption. 

Making the built environment more circular must prioritise a heavy reduction in material use—while also closing the loop on materials and bringing secondary and renewable material choices to the fore. Our four key solutions for the built environment are:
- Make the most of what already exists: Make the most of existing materials by reusing, repurposing, upgrading and renovating following circular approaches. Where new builds are needed, use secondary materials and be as efficient as possible with urban planning solutions that follow circular design principles so that buildings can be reused, repurposed, and easily disassembled in the future.
- Be as energy efficient as possible: From the design phase, utilise circular strategies to create material- and energy efficient buildings. Couple these designs with a rollout of clean energy solutions, and prioritise energy-efficient appliances and retrofitting. 
- Utilise secondary materials: Maximise the high-value reuse of buildings and components where possible. Ideally, enable the utilisation of construction and demolition outputs and ensure that as much of it as possible is recycled to avoid the need for virgin materials, such as sand and gravel.
- Prioritise circular materials and approaches: Transition to using renewable wood, timber or cross-laminated timber instead of steel and concrete, or move to other locally available materials. Utilise mainstream modular construction and prioritise lightweight frames and structures to reduce cement and steel use, as well as green roofs where possible.



🏢 Built Environment

Communities

Governments

Water system refers to the water supply network for storing and supplying water for use by the community.

One of the greatest challenges of a city is to provide its inhabitants with safe, clean water from a limited fresh water supply. Improving the city’s water infrastructure efficiency, such as minimising leakages, reduces the strain put on the limited supply, which in turn, helps to ensure inhabitants gain access to clean and affordable water.

The water infrastructure of a city typically consists of components such as surface water diversions, wells, pumps, transmission pipes and canals, treatment and storage facilities, and distribution network elements (Burian et al.). Options for improving the efficiency of the system include investing in water loss reduction systems, creating and following a regular maintenance program, and better matching water supply and demand (Global Water Partnership).

Cities can improve the efficiency of their water system infrastructure by conducting a water audit, in which all water flows are traced and losses in the system are identified to map where the most efficiency improvements can be gained. Alongside this, asset management can be used to create a short-term and long-term strategy of investing in new equipment, refurbishing existing equipment and developing maintenance programmes to ensure infrastructure is as efficient as possible, and leaks are minimised. Such management programmes create financial transparency amongst all stakeholders and provide useful long-term planning for larger infrastructure changes (US EPA)

💧 Water Systems

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

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An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

Years of delays and repeated failures to implement and improve sewage and drainage systems in Ghana’s capital, Accra, has led to increasingly damaging and deadly flooding during the country’s annual rainy season. 
“[Ghana] hasn’t make any serious arrangements in the event of a flood,” said Franklin Cudjoe, director of the Accra-based IMANI think tank. “It is the epitome of neglect.”
Thirty-eight-year-old Gertrude Otobia Darko was at home with her eight children and husband on the night of 3 June when her house began to flood after days of steady rainfall and then hours of heavy downpour across the city.
Trapped inside, Darko and her family shouted and waved for help, from within the pitch black room, as the rain poured in. Soon the water was about four feet high, up to her chest. Eventually some neighbours were able to break down the door to let them out.
“We were holding on to the [window] railing that broke,” she told IRIN. “People carried us on their heads and took us out.”
But not before the water dragged Darko's three-year-old son away. Neighbours eventually found him submerged, with water in his lungs. His rescuers wanted to take him to the hospital, but were unable to get through the water.
Days later, the child is still unwell, yet to recover from the ordeal.
An ongoing problem
Ghana usually sees an average of 221mm of rainfall each June, according to the country’s Meteorological Agency. This year, an estimated 250mm of rain fell in the first three days of the month alone. It was the biggest storm in the past 20 years.
But the streets of Accra tend to flood even during times of average rainfall. 
In some communities, structures have been built on waterways, blocking the water-flow. Drainage and sewage systems across the city are primitive and easily overflow.
A lack of public trash bins also means that litter is often discarded without care, further choking the gutters and blocking the flow of the water.
Unfulfilled promises
For years there has been talk of the government working with development partners to install a proper drainage system that would collect the rubbish that clogs the city's streets, gutters and beaches.
But the project has yet to materialise. 
According to the mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vandepuije, the funds have been stuck at the Ministry of Finance since April 2013. The Ministry of Finance says it has not received the loan. The US Exim Bank, which is supposed to finance the project, confirmed that no plan has been finalised. 
“The government and its development partners need to work together to complete the drains,” Addo said. “The plan is there and the funding has been sourced.”
Now the money just needs to be disbursed. 
In 2005 Ghana committed to the 10-year Hyogo Framework for Action that seeks to reduce disaster risk. The framework, which includes dredging and drainage systems in some parts of Accra, is still either incomplete or yet to begin. The duration of framework ends this year.
In 2011, the former regional minister for Greater Accra created a Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Accra. But that too has not yet been activated. 
IMANI’s Cudjoe told IRIN that corruption, political appointments, poor leadership and lack of regulation continue to lead to flood-related disasters.
“It is a myth surrounding the idea of Ghana's growth,” he said. “It's good that everyone sees us as doing well, but when it comes to the real development issues we haven't. Plans for [dealing with] urbanisation and regeneration are not part of the big economic development plans.”
Dire consequences 
This month’s most recent storm, on 3 June, which led to an explosion at a petrol station, killed more than 150 people and affected thousands of others. It is just the latest example of the country’s failure to properly institute disaster risk reduction management, observers say.
Across Accra, collapsed walls now lay in puddles of mud. Many families have been forced to take refuge with neighbours.
Many residents say they are aware of the dangers and risks that the rains bring each year, but that there is little they can do. 
Hawa, for example, who owns a cosmetic shop, was warned by her brother that the rain was getting heavier and heading in their direction. As predicted, the downpour soon descended on them as well.
Like many others throughout the city, her store was destroyed by the floods. 
“It's my own small business,” Hawa said. “Everything has gone.”
She, like Darko, who also lost her store, has no way of setting up shop again.
Risk of cholera
In Accra, as the rains intensify each year, so does the risk of cholera. In 2014, there were an estimated 28,000 cholera cases in Ghana, according to Greater Accra’s Regional Disease Control Officer Ato Ashon. More than 20,000 of them were found in Accra, following heavy rains and flooding. 
In the wake of this most recent flood, and with many weeks still to go before the rainy season ends, the Greater Accra Regional Disease Control Centre says it has been sending more nurses into the communities to educate people about cholera prevention, in attempt to stave off another outbreak. 
“It is disheartening that every year we deliver the same relief items,” said Samuel Kofi Addo, the secretary-general of the Ghanaian Red Cross. “Blankets, mattresses, buckets, food items - the same packages. What makes it even more sad is that we go to the same communities.”
Attempts at aid
Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) began, last week, distributing relief items to families around Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where the deadly petrol fire broke out, but failed to reach the majority of other affected areas until the start of a four-day campaign that began 8 June. 
Following last week’s flood, Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama announced, on 5 June, that $12 million will be directed to support the flood and fire victims with relief, as well as used for infrastructure and waterway clearing projects.
Demolitions of informal structures, which block the current gutters and drains, also began in parts of Accra on 5 June, although mainly aimed at small constructions. Larger buildings and complexes like the luxury Villaggio residential properties, which is built on a known water basin, are rarely regulated.
But for Darko, Hawa, their neighbours and the many families across Accra whose lives were devastated by the floods and fire, prevention would have been better than a cure.
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 The Nima Drain is an approximately 7 km long drainage channel located along the Nima-Maamobi stretch, which is home to 116,749 residents living in dense, poor, flood-prone neighborhoods. It is one of the most important water drainage channels in Accra but is currently seen as a service corridor and an area for stormwater drainage, waste, and wastewater disposal. With time, poor maintenance and the large amounts of solid waste have left the surrounding settlements with an inefficient drainage capacity followed by frequent flooding during the rainy season.
The Nima Drain Rehabilitation project is part of a large-scale development of the Nima Drain area that will provide environmental enhancement and urban regeneration, which can help to redefine the district and build on the rich legacy and culture of the local community.  

Ramboll’s key tasks in the project are to:  
 Form a baseline by reviewing existing data and design ideas.  Present project vision including conceptual integrated solutions and design ideas for the area.  Prepare preliminary design for the sewage systems.  Update the previously developed bill of quantities to reflect the adjusted design elements. 

Using blue-green solutions to enhance social and environmental sustainability  
With the Nima Drain Rehabilitation project, we actively contribute to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The baseline study includes an in-depth project area understanding through site visits and stakeholder engagement supporting sustainable conceptual and preliminary design ideas. The Nima Drain Rehabilitation project intends to provide an integrated site-specific solution that will work to enhance and revitalize the corridor in its full extension. It will support biodiversity and promote a new urban, social setting and environment, which offers the opportunity to create a community space with a reduced carbon footprint that can be a beacon for future drainage developments.  
The shared vision must be flexible, resilient, and human scaled. In short, this project aims to bring a higher quality of life for the residents through a more organized and logical allocation of functional spaces and sustainable features for social activities, flood mitigation, and public hygiene. Opposed to now, the new area will be walkable, bike-able, and useful for people of all ages.      

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Accra

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The Government of Ghana

The Nima Drain regeneration project is aimed at revitalizing the drainage system in Nima, a densely populated neighbourhood in Accra, Ghana. Currently, the neglected sewage system poses a great threat to the local community. The area is often flooded and the risk of infectious diseases is also increased. The project will not only address the risk of flooding but also focus on improving the quality of life for local residents.&nbsp;

The Nima Drain regeneration project

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This collection comes from the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>, an initiative of Circle Economy.

The workforce is an essential lever for transforming our economy from linear to circular. The Circular Jobs Initiative aims to maximise the employment opportunities offered by the circular economy. It provides practical support and insights to businesses and governments that want to adopt circular strategies that have a positive social impact.The Circular Jobs Initiative works through three focus areas: 

- Upskilling the workforce

- Quality of work

- Inclusive job opportunities 

CJI has defined circular jobs as any occupation that directly involves or indirectly supports one of the strategies of the circular economy. It distinguishes between three types of circular jobs: core, enabling and indirectly circular jobs.

**Core circular jobs** are all jobs that ensure the closure of raw material cycles, including jobs in repair, renewable energy, waste and resource management. 

**‍Enabling circular jobs** are jobs that remove barriers for and enable the acceleration and upscaling of core circular activities, including jobs that arise in leasing, education, design and digital technology. 

**Indirectly circular jobs** are jobs that occur in other sectors that do not play a direct role in furthering the transition to the circular economy but can still adopt circular strategies. They include jobs that provide services to core circular strategies, including jobs in information services, logistics and the public sector.

The Knowledge Hub Collection includes examples of circular jobs, publications, reports, case studies and policies different organisations, governments and businesses are already using to advocate for a person-centred circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>

Visit the <a href="http://jobsmonitor.circle-economy.com/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Monitor</a>

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Circular Jobs Initiative

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Impacts on the financial condition of a company, as well as the the economicconditions of its stakeholders and on economic systems at local, national, andglobal levels.

Economic Impact

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Contribution to social parity, or impact on social disparity

Equality

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Scalability

Consider opportunities to create greater value and align incentives that build on the interaction between products and services

Rethink the business model

Work together throughout the supply chain, internally within organisations and with the public sector and communities to increase transparency and create joint value

Team up to create joint value

'Inform' increases the overall levels of awareness and builds the necessary skills and knowledge around the circular economy to foster long-term change.

Inform

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

'Incentivise' sends market signals and support to businesses, citizens and governments to promote certain activities.

Incentivise

 Develop research, structure knowledge, encourage innovation networks and disseminate findings with integrity


Strengthen and advance knowledge

A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policies

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

A partnership project between the European Union (EU), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation will launch in Accra on 7th May, 2020.The project, “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – (GrEEn)”, is a four-year action aimed at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses. The project is implemented under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa.With trainings and financial support for green businesses such as plastic waste recycling, clean cookstove production and distribution, as well as organic horticulture and compost production, the GrEEn project is expected to promote and support the growth of climate resilient local economies in two regions in Ghana: the Ashanti and Western regions.Ghana’s economic growth has not translated into sufficient productive employment opportunities, particularly for the youth who represent a large part of the population. Faced with the challenge of responding to economic, social and environmental changes, the youth often resort to migration in search of livelihood opportunities.Financed by a total contribution of EUR 20,600,000 from EUTF, SNV and UNCDF, the GrEEn project will use a combination of performance-based grants, access to finance, technical assistance and skills development to promote green and circular economies. Additionally, there will be support for the incubation and acceleration of selected Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) with the potential to green their business models in sectors such as agriculture, energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project will use a flexible approach to adapt its interventions to the preparedness, response and recovery to COVID-19 through the GrEEn framework.The GrEEn project will work with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and other relevant ministries as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).“SNV is delighted to have been awarded this joint programme and looks forward to co-leading it with our partner, UNCDF. We need to find ways of helping youth, women, returning migrants and local communities to get sustainable livelihoods and enhanced skills to access employment and entrepreneurship opportunities,” said Anjo van Toorn, SNV Country Director in Ghana.Ms. Maria Perdomo, UNCDF’s Youth Finance Global Manager noted, “Our objective is to ensure that we are leveraging our expertise in local development finance and financial inclusion for women and youth in Ghana, strengthening government systems and markets in a sustained manner. By partnering with SNV, we will truly deploy an integrated approach that enables more people to benefit from increased economic opportunities within their local communities.”“Migration should always be a choice, not a necessity. Thanks to the GrEEn project which supports livelihoods and green/circular economy, lots of young people will finally have the choice” said Diana Acconcia, European Union Ambassador to Ghana.Share:   

GrEEn is funded under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), which European and African partners set up in 2015 to deliver an integrated and coordinated response to irregular migration, forced displacement and diverse causes of instability, including climate change. GrEEn contributes to addressing the root causes of irregular migration by supporting sustainable and climate resilient local economies, green jobs, and development in departure, transit, and return regions. GrEEn is implemented in coordination with the Ghanaian Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (and other relevant ministries) alongside the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies of the two focal regions. Furthermore, SNV is working with a wide variety of partners, including private sector, vocational and other training service providers, incubation and acceleration hubs, relevant Ministries, the Ghanaian diaspora, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), as well as other donors and relevant actors working on green jobs and enterprises. SNV focuses on the following two result areas:  Employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of youth, women and returnees are improved in sectors of economic opportunities. Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs), offering decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returnees, are incubated and/or accelerated and contribute to green and climate resilient local economies.  

The “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana  – (GrEEn)” is a four-year action from the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, UNCDF and SNV. The project aims at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in selected regions (Ashanti and Western). GrEEn is implemented under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa.GrEEn will contribute to addressing the root causes of irregular migration by supporting sustainable and climate resilient local economies, green jobs and development in regions of departure, transit and return. The objective of GrEEN it to create local financial ecosystems that facilitate the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and enable the transition of local economies to green and climate resilient development.Through a combination of grants, technical assistance and convening power, the GrEEn programme will work with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and other relevant ministries as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to:Support the transition of local economies to green and climate resilient development.Improve the ability of women, youth and returning migrants to take advantage of job and entrepreneurship opportunities in green and climate resilient local economiesCreate and strengthen local ecosystems that support youth (self-) employment and the development of MSMEs.GrEEn has 4 result areas: UNCDF focuses on Results 1 and 3, while SNV on Results 2 and 4.Supporting growth of local economies and creating short-term job opportunities through cash for work.Improving the ability of women, youth and returning migrants to take advantage of green job and entrepreneurship opportunities in their local economies.Increasing access to and use of financial services to support cash-for-work beneficiaries and MSMEs to meet the needs for youth women and returning migrants while also benefiting their local communities.Supporting and speeding the growth of Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) in the green and circular economy so they can offer decent, fair and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returning migrants.Through GrEEn, UNCDF is committed to:Short-term job opportunities for youth, women and returnees through green and climate resilient investments in local economies.Improve the employability of youth, women and returnees through orientation support and assistance, to transition to skills development for the benefit of green and climate resilient local economies (cash for work beneficiaries).Access and usage of financial services, leveraging remittances and digital solutions, adapted to the needs of (i) youth, women and returnees benefiting from cash for work schemes and (ii) local communities and MSMEs.GrEEn was officially launched in May 2020 under the patronage of the Ghanaian Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.Going GrEEn for a sustainable future! #GrEEnProject #AfricaTrustFund.

Accra – Several years ago high school directors from Ghana’s Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions began noticing that many of their students were dropping out before graduating. Their intent was to enter the job market, by risking the irregular journey across the Sahara and across the Mediterranean Sea in hopes of reaching Europe.  
Some were successful, but many were not – discovering that instead of lucrative employment, they faced terrible hardship, including death. 
Since May 2017, 1,003 Ghanaians have returned to their communities of origin with IOM support. About 35 per cent fall within the school age in the country (up to 26 years old). Among them, almost 60 per cent are from the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Greater Accra Regions, the highest regions of return in 2017 and 2018 according to a recent Assistance to Voluntary and Humanitarian Return report.  
Many return, eager to share their experience with their peers. These migrant voices can be a valuable teaching tool.  
Over the past two weeks some 10,000 high school students attended awareness-raising sessions on the dangers and alternatives to irregular migration organized on 29-30 April and 2-3 May 2019 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Bono and Ashanti regions.  
Ghanaian returnees were invited to share their journey to Libya with the students and described their migration experiences including inhumane treatment, the crossing of the desert, and the reality in the detention centres. 
“The journey through the Saharan Desert is dangerous. Your chances of survival are only 20 per cent. Do not make an attempt and regret later,” said Richard, a migrant returnee. 
Fruitful exchanges took place between students and Ghanaian returnees around their journey, and pictures and short videos were also displayed to illustrate the risky and dangerous migratory routes.  
Some students joined together voluntarily to form Migration Clubs that were established in six senior high schools. The goal of the clubs is to do peer-to-peer education on safe migration while also sensitizing the larger community using drama, poetry, quiz games and arts, among other means.  
“It is your role to tell others in your communities, houses or at any gatherings about the risks associated with irregular migration. People may not know, so you must inform them. Be the catalyst for community change,” declared Yeboah Collins, IOM Community Outreach Assistant. 
The awareness-raising activities were organized with the support of the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration, funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and implemented by IOM. So far, 79,000 individuals have been reached through radio programmes on the dangers and alternatives to irregular migration, 11,000 through awareness-raising sessions in schools and 8,000 through community-awareness activities. 
“This activity should be sustained, at least once a year targeting our final year students so that they will not fall prey into the hands of smugglers,” said Kyeremeh Thomas, Guidance Counselling Co-ordinator, Dormaa Senior High School. 
An impact assessment will be made to measure behavioural change and strengthen future awareness-raising campaigns in Ghana.  
For more information, please contact Collins Yeboah at IOM Ghana, Tel: +233208268289 Email: cyeboah@iom.int or visit the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa website. 


Air pollution, the number one environmental risk to public health, costs roughly $2 billion per year and causes the premature death of nearly 16,000 people each year. Elderly account for most of the deaths, while more than half of the deaths from pneumonia in children under five is associated with air pollution.   Water Pollution causes significant damage equivalent to 3% of the GDP. This is due to the health effects of inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and discharge of solid industrial and toxic waste into water systems.  Plastics pollution is rising to crisis proportions. Each day, over 3,000 metric tons of plastic waste is produced with much of it dumped as litter or placed into improvised landfills. This waste clogs open drainage systems and pollutes the ocean.   E-waste, associated with the Agbogbloshie dumpsite, is Accra’s main source of air pollution. Here, burning electronic parts cast carcinogenic compounds into the air while deposited toxic metals enter waterways and oceans. Each year, exposure to lead and mercury-causing diseases and the lost IQ points in children cost $440 million.   Poor land management leads to land degradation, costing over US$500 million a year and to deforestation costing US$400 million a year: five million hectares of forest was lost between 2001 and 2015. Over the past decade, artisanal gold mining aggravated the degradation as streams and rivers were dug up to find gold. Miners’ exposure to the toxic mercury also costs $240 million in health costs.   Ghana loses about 2.7 million m2 of its shore every year, with 80% of the shoreline actively eroding. Coastal erosion and flooding are particularly serious in Greater Accra where sea level rise increases erosion intensity and raises the chance of flooding by 20%. This puts at risk communities and UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Cape Coast and Elmina. Overfishing cost $233 million and could lead to the collapse of small pelagic fisheries and the loss of half a million jobs.   Climate change heavily affects climate- sensitive sectors on which Ghana’s growth is based - agriculture, forestry, and energy. It also triggers environmental disasters: in the last 40 years, floods affected four million people and a 2015 flash flood in Accra caused $55 million in damages.  Ghana is responding to the urgent need to protect the natural capital through evidence-based actions and concrete steps to share the impact of growth, especially in terms of food security and human development.   Informed by this analysis, Ghana is prioritizing environmental issues in development planning. But it's crucial to act now to prevent the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on vulnerable people in Ghana . It is also key to understand the importance of well-informed communities and strong institutions in seeking accountability and transparency. Finally, Ghana would benefit from advancing critical policy reforms to allocate resources and benefits to communities.  E-Book: Learn more about Ghana Country Environmental Analysis


View PDFVolume 12, July 2021, e00756https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2021.e00756Get rights and content

Ghana

Western Region

Ashanti Region

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The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 27 EU countries that together cover much of the continent.

European Union 

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF)

European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF)

SNV (Netherlands Development Organization)

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

The project “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana”(GrEEn) set by European and African partners is focused on addressing the root causes of irregular migration by supporting sustainable and climate resilient local economies, green jobs, and the development of local regions. As a result, the employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of the youth, women, and returnees are expected to improve. Work with local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will also ensure that they are able to offer decent and sustainable jobs to the youth, women, and returnees; and are equipped to contribute to the development of green and climate resilient local communities.