Director General of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Nana Agyemang Prempeh said in order to effectively execute their mandate of managing disasters and emergencies, as well as developing the capacity of communities to respond effectively to disasters, it is very essential for them to have appropriate expertise and skills as management and staff of NADMO.
He noted that capacity building programmes must be a core focus and priority of the National Disaster Management Organisation.
He was speaking at the opening of a Four-Day Training and Capacity Buiding Workshop on Enterprise Risk Management for NADMO’s Risk Management Committee (RMC) On 9th May, 2022 at the Institute Of Local Government Studies in Accra.
According to him, training of the Risk Management Committee members of NADMO on the subject matter of Enterprise Risk Management which is a plan-based process and holistic strategy that seeks to identify, assess, and prepare for possible physical and non-physical threats, dangers, hazards, and other likelihoods for disaster that may interfere in the goals and operations of an organization, is a laudable initiative that I fully support and associate with.
“It is worth noting that, this training programme is being organized pursuant to section 7(2) of the Public Financial Management Act 2016, Act 921 which requires public institutions to establish an effective system of Risk, Management, Internal Control and Internal Audit of their resources and transactions.”
He hopes that at the end of the four-day programme, participants would have adequately been educated and acquired demonstrable capacity to develop a Draft Risk Management Policy, Risk Management Charter and a Risk Register for NADMO.
“More so, our Internal Audit Staff would be armed with the requisite knowledge and skills to conduct effective Risk Assessment as well as make smart audit and decisions. I encourage all participants to fully avail themselves during the four-days ahead to adequately imbibe the various topics and activities of the training,” he noted.
Commenting on climate change, Nana Agyemang Prempeh averred that, water quality degradation and water-related extremes are being exacerbated by climate change, putting vulnerable communities in the developing world at risk.
Water, he said, in its various occurrences, management and uses, is an essential component of human development and is a crosscutting factor in current development priorities for almost all nations in the world for achieving sustainable development.
He pointed out that the availability of this vital resource, is now heavily dependent on climate change.
“Experts predict that by the year 2,100, there will be more water available in the moist tropics and high latitudes, with less water available and increasing drought in the mid-latitudes and semi-arid low latitudes. It has been confirmed that changes in global climate caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will affect freshwater availability patterns and change the frequency of floods and droughts. The issue is more than just future water availability. The availability of high-quality water is also a major concern. Climate model simulations and other analyses indicate that total flows, probabilities of extreme high or low flow conditions, seasonal runoff regimes, groundwater-surface water interactions, and water quality characteristics may all be significantly affected by climate change over the next few decades.”
The NADMO Boss also mentioned that heavy rain and flooding are direct consequences of climate change, which has been accelerated by human activity. Rising temperatures are also warming the world, causing ice and glaciers to melt.
The end result of these climatic conditions is contamination of water sources – both surface and groundwater.
He also underscored the importance of health of a water body, such as a river, which he said is dependent on its ability to effectively self-purify through biodegradation, which is hampered when dissolved oxygen levels are low.
