Ghana is a lower-middle-income country in West Africa with a coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. It has two main ecological zones: the southern region (30 percent) is predominantly forested, while the remaining 70 percent lies within the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone and is drier. Average annual rainfall in the south is nearly double that of the north (World Bank Group, 2023). 

Climate change poses a significant threat due to sea level rise in the south and Sahelian climate effects in the north (Ghana EPA, 2020). The average temperatures are projected to increase by 2.3°C to 5.3°C by the end of the century (World Bank Group, 2021). Ghana is vulnerable to complex droughts, flooding, and increasing aridity, and faces a high risk of climate-related hazards and disasters. Key impacts are in the health sector, due to the rise in infectious diseases, and in agriculture, driven by changing rainfall patterns and coastal flooding  (World Bank Group, 2023). More than 70 percent of the country’s land area is used for agriculture, which employs 45 percent of the population (World Bank, Group 2021). Most agricultural production occurs in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone, where poverty rates approach 45 percent compared with a national average of 10 percent, and where climate impacts are expected to be most severe (ibid.). Around one quarter of the population lives along the coast in highly urbanized areas, such as the capital Accra, which are vulnerable to extreme flooding (ibid.). 

Ghana has invested in a range of adaptation measures and climate-related initiatives, including coastal sea defense projects, strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers, and improving flood risk and waste management in Accra (Ghana EPA, 2020).