Mayor of Accra, Hon. Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey has highlighted the city’s efforts to strengthen collaboration between informal waste sector actors to fulfil its green transition and advance global action to combat the climate crisis.
According to her, Accra had since 2021 been implementing the Inclusive Climate Action Programme (CAP) with support from C40 Cities to prioritise the voice, visibility, and participation of informal waste actors.
Speaking at the opening plenary of the global gathering of mayors at the Buenos Aires Convention Center in Argentina, on Thursday, October 20, 2022, Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey said the city was addressing the challenges of informality associated with waste service delivery in ways that tackle multiple inequalities and support an inclusive transition to a greener and more resilient city.
The summit, which is C40’s triennial climate action conference brought together mayors, climate experts, advocates, business leaders, and youth activists from cities around the world to “agree” to new commitments to fight global warming with a focus on green and fair economic recovery with job creation, access to financing for environmental projects, and cities of well-being to address the climate crisis.
Hon Elizabeth Sackey, who is the first female Mayor of Accra used the opportunity to share the innovative work Ghana’s capital was implementing to create accessible green career opportunities and address the climate crisis as well as accelerate the delivery of climate commitments to help build a more sustainable, equitable world where everyone, everywhere can thrive.
“We are working to incorporate waste contracts and concessions for informal waste cooperatives…This transition is an inclusive approach to addressing the climate crisis and is at the intersection of climate change, labour, and inequality in Accra, this means building a more recognised informal waste sector to support emissions reduction in the city and enable more safeguarded informal jobs,” she said.
“In recent years, we have prioritised the informal waste sector’s contribution to climate action. Their work is central to our local adaptation and climate resilience efforts, and we are keen to continue to prioritise the recognition, representation, and participation of informal waste actors in the city’s waste policy discourse and action. By doing this, we are optimistic of co-creating solutions to enhance the informal waste sector’s access to the benefits of climate action like cleaner air, more safeguarded jobs and livelihoods, social protection, and safer communities,” she added.
She pointed out that Accra through its inclusive climate action work, “is taking action to respond to identified migrant-specific urban development challenges in the informal waste sector to improve childcare facilities for children of migrant informal waste workers and facilitate access to healthcare and financial inclusion in the city.”
This she noted would contribute to improving the city’s overall waste management, local adaptation, and climate resilience adding that the work is supported by the Mayors Migration Council, through the Global Cities Fund.
The World mayors at the end of the summit announced several commitments including a record investment of more than a billion dollars to tackle the global climate emergency, such as cities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia among others.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana