Ghana- Reflection Questions

Environment   Oct 28, 2015 by lincoln-nataliad

What were the notable differences between your two countries in relation to climate change?

While Canada is an economically developed country, Ghana is not. Therefore, it would suffer greatly if the effects of climate change were to rapidly increase. Ghana would need to be provided with some kind of international aid to combat this problem while still trying to develop. Canada, on the other hand, is more of an aid-donor; in fact, it recently gave aid to Ghana, India, and Bangladesh as a part of the DECCMA program. Because African countries are more vulnerable to climate change, the effects of climate change would be more present here than in Canada. Climate change would also have different effects on each country. While Ghana would be under the threat of flooding and extreme heat, Canada would experience shorter winters, greater ice areas melting, and a change in ecosystems and wildlife (many species will be forced to adapt or be faced with the threat of extinction, which is more plausible if temperatures increase rapidly). 

What factors do you think influenced the differences?

The geographical region of Ghana and Canada influenced the differences, as Ghana is just above the equator while Canada is up north. This difference means that the average temperatures in Ghana are already significantly higher, and if climate change were to speed up, the temperature increase would make the climate very hot. In Canada, on the other hand, the temperatures would not be unbearable, but winters would be shorter, and polar ice caps would melt more. This would throw Canada's climate and ecosystems off balance. Another difference is the development of each country, since Canada is developed, while Ghana is developing. This requires different actions to be taken by the countries, as Ghana does not have the resources needed to combat climate change (funds, technology, etc).

Post comment