She estimated that the country would require an average of $45 billion per year until 2030 to meet the targets.
Furthermore, she stated that there was a need to ensure macroeconomic stability as well as an appropriate governance regime for long-term human development.
Mrs. Osei-Opare made this statement while presenting a paper titled “Our World at a Triple Tipping Point: The Urgency of SDGs Action” on the second day of the Ho Edition of the SDGs Day Out last Tuesday at the Ho Technical University (HTU).
The three-day event, which began on Monday, had the theme “Leave No One Behind.”
While vigorous efforts were being made to repair the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana and the world at large were confronted, according to the Chief of Staff.
She stated that variability in rainfall patterns, drought, and high temperatures posed a real risk to agricultural productivity and a threat to the drive for agri-business industrialization.
She stated that a large number of Ghanaians whose livelihoods were directly linked to natural resources were extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
“As recently experienced in Keta and neighboring settlements in the Volta Region, sea-level rise and tidal surge caused by climate change pose existential threats to coastal settlements and ecosystems.”
“With so much of our critical infrastructure dotted along the coast, such as oil and gas plants, thermal power generation, major highways and ports, as well as settlements and monuments,” she says, “the potential economic and social cost of coastal erosion and tidal surge could be enormous.”
Mrs. Osei-Opare emphasized the importance of taking decisive action now to protect the ocean’s ability to regenerate and continue to provide significant economic, environmental, and social value for human development.
As a member of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, she stated that Ghana was committed to managing 100% of its ocean sustainably.
As a result of that, she announced that work on the country’s Sustainable Ocean Plan would begin soon.
Mrs. Osei-Opare urged all stakeholders to actively participate in the process and ensure its success.
She maintained that investing now in a sustainable ocean economy would definitely improve the lives and prospects of everyone everywhere in the country, because the ocean provided many of the solutions to the nation’s and all mankind’s sustainable development challenges.
According to Dr. Eugene Owusu, the Presidential Advisor on SDGs, the goals sought to protect the planet and create prosperity, among other development goals, and must thus be viewed as an opportunity for better living conditions for all.
As a result, achieving the SDGs required a strong partnership between the government, on the one hand, and civil society, the private sector, traditional rulers, and academia, on the other.
Professor Ben Q. Honyenuga, Vice-Chancellor of the HTU, stated that the ravages of COVID-19 provided an opportunity for the nation to rebuild.
He stated that the HTU was working with the Presidency’s SDG Unit to achieve the SDGs.
