Infrastructure

Even with Ghana’s impressive economic growth in recent times, the country’s industries still lag behind the services sector in its contribution to both GDP and employment. Ghanaian manufacturers struggle to overcome the difficulties posed by infrastructure problems, informality, and the lack of skilled labour and good management practices. Financial constraints, high cost of doing business, and difficulties to access credit also make growth harder for companies of all sizes.

Ghana’s economy has shown robust growth in the past two decades, with GDP per capita increasing by 88% in real terms during this period. Still, poverty remains a challenge, especially among the rural population. For an economy largely reliant on agriculture and mineral resource mining like Ghana’s, land plays a crucial role in development.

However, the land structure in the country is complicated, with most holdings remaining in customary ownership, untitled, and undocumented. This generates problems of disputes and inadequate utilization of the property.

Fishing makes a substantial contribution to Ghana’s economy and employment, sustaining the livelihoods of at least 3 million people, including half a million women. In West Africa, fish constitutes about one-third of animal protein consumed.

However, the marine fish stock in Ghana is biologically over-exploited and at risk of collapsing. Catches have declined in recent decades, small-sized fish have become prevalent, and only 40% of the fish consumed in Ghana today is produced locally. Excess fishing is worsened by illegal, unreported activities and destructive techniques.

Since 2000, Ghana’s development has been a real success story. The country has witnessed sustained economic growth, with real GDP per capita increasing by 3.5% per year on average and extreme poverty levels falling by almost 80% according to the Ghana Statistical Service.

The UN climate summit is underway in Madrid, and activists are sounding their usual calls for world leaders to achieve carbon neutrality as fast as possible. It’s a fool’s errand.

From California to France to Chile, environmentalists laud leaders for already making the promise, and sometimes even passing legislation, to stop putting more greenhouse gases into the air than they take out.

During a recent visit with the Dallas Morning News' editorial board, Bjorn Lomborg urged policymakers to spend money on countering climate change more effectively. Rather than spending on feel-good green projects or urging people to make personal sacrifices such as giving up meat, leaders should approach climate solutions unemotionally and invest in the ideas that will do the most good for the most people.

Climate change is clearly an important global issue, but we are tackling it very badly and our overwhelming focus on reducing carbon emissions also distracts us from many of the world's most pressing problems. What makes it so hard to cut emissions is that CO2 is a byproduct of prosperous economies, and replacing cheap fossil fuels with today's mostly expensive and unreliable green alternatives remains incredibly expensive. An analysis for the government of New Zealand recently showed that achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 would cost the nation 16% of GDP.

Wielu zachodnich darczyńców uwielbia myśl, że zamiast brudnych, opalanych węglem elektrowni, biedne kraje powinny „przeskoczyć” prosto do czystszych źródeł energii, takich jak niezależna technologia zasilania słonecznego.  Bank Światowy jest na czele tych starań i nie finansuje już dłużej projektów energetycznych opartych na węglu.

Alcançar o acesso universal à contraceção melhoraria milhões de vidas e encaminharia as sociedades para uma prosperidade mais rápida. Com tanto em jogo, o mundo deve dedicar muito mais atenção e recursos a esse objetivo.

As it is becoming obvious that political responses to global warming such as the Paris treaty are not working, environmentalists are urging us to consider the climate impact of our personal actions. Don’t eat meat, don’t drive a gasoline-powered car and don’t fly, they say. But these individual actions won’t make a substantial difference to our planet, and such demands divert attention away from the solutions that are needed.