Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, H: Environment & Earth Science, Volume 23 Issue 5

© 2023 Global Journals 1 Year 2023 57 Global Journal of Science Frontier Research Volume XXIII Issue ersion I VV ( H ) Addressing Security Risk Caused by Climate Change Across Nations: The Role of Non-State Policy Actors rains cut summarily. These are ways that do help to reduce some of the vulnerabilities caused by climate change impacts which unattended to could have dire consequences on food security. It was gathered that local farmers do trust the information they receive from these NSA; this observation supports an argument by Haas (1992) that NGOs have functioned as epistemic communities, forming critical bridges that serve as conduits for information flow. Over time, the NGOs have put together firm and credulous associations with local communities, governmental agencies, state, and municipal governments, playing an essential role in the capacity building of an array of key actors (ibid). Additionally, the study discovers that NGOs assist in value chain essentials by ensuring that farmers are educated on marketing trends and how to secure ready markets for their farm produce. By also encouraging farmers to add value to their products, it helps in reducing post-harvest losses whilst increasing the returns or income that will emanate from subsequent sales of the processed farm produce. Marketing and value addition are two important activities that help in reducing food security risks associated with climate change whilst they help to reduce the poverty and vulnerability of smallholder farmers to further impoverishment. The study has brought to the fore that NGOs have been influential in the provision of climate services defined to mean “the generation, provision, and contextualization of information and knowledge derived from climate research for decision-making at all levels of society” (Vaughan & Dessai, 2014, p.1). The utility of climate information for driving farm management practices and decision-making in relation to when and what crops to plant in relation to climate change and variability cannot be over-emphasized (Vaughan et al., 2019; Singh et al., 2017). Mainstreaming CIS into development planning and agricultural systems requires that stakeholders especially smallholder farmers have a full understanding and appreciation of the issues involved in climate change adaptation (UNDP, 2012). Various studies (Ayers et al., 2014; Ellis et al., 2013; Pilato et al., 2018) have highlighted the need to build awareness of climate change issues amongst stakeholders in order to mainstream climate change issues. Lack of awareness or trusted information about uncertainties, risks, opportunities, and trade-offs presents challenges to policymakers (Pilato et al., 2018). Ideally, the measures as illustrated in the framework ought to be the function of the state and its actors yet due to resource constraints and/or inadequate commitment and political will, some of these roles are not properly executed by the government on behalf of the state. Neumayer (2003) observes and argues that developing countries tend to be mostly saddled with many other crucial socio- economic demands than their attention on climate change issues which in many cases the quest for short- term socio-economic gains and political expediency over long-term environmental gains including building climate resilience and reducing security risks associated with same (see Pilato et al., 2018). Filling such a vacuum created by the state or government is usually filled by non-state actors who in most cases have to complement the efforts of state actors by acting as a crossing point between local people and the state or policymakers (see Cash et al. 2003). From the Ghanaian case, it was observed that NGOs help in addressing food security risks posed by climate change by assisting smallholder farmers navigate through their farming activities. The set of climate activities is multi-faceted which cumulate to equip farmers on how to effectively adapt to and mitigate the risks. This observation synch well with the existing literature which contends that climate services develop and involve the provision of climate-relevant information (Brasseur & Gallardo, 2016) and remain quintessential in plummeting climate vulnerability thereby enhancing resilience (Carr & Onzere, 2018) and helping reduce various losses and risks which would have occurred. This point has forcefully been argued by Singh et al. (2017) that climate information services that are provided by external actors remain very useful in building on indigenous knowledge to reorient and reshape the understanding of climate risks and direct or inform decision-making across scales. The study observes a non-state actor collaboration with state agencies in order to drum home the agenda of climate change resilience and mitigating the security risks associated thereof. In both the Ghanaian case study. The ability of NSAs to effectively coordinate and collaborate with other NSAs or the state remains determines their relevance and impact in communities. From the extant literature, a study by Deason et al (2022) observed that the NSA made an impact by collaborating with the state agencies which helped in strengthening the protection of natural sources against climate hazards. In figure 1 above, this sort of coordination of efforts is denoted by ‘’Collaboration with stakeholders’’. For NGOs to be very impactful, they need to align their efforts and activities to synch with other interested parties, including the local government, other NGOs, and civil societies. The NGO collaboration with the local government other related state agencies as well as local farmers to achieve a task finds a place in the instrumental claims of NGO participation in public governance which according to Baker and Chapin (2018) involves the former providing relevant knowledge to help solve real societal problems which would lead to effective and efficient outcomes. On the other hand, their activities also find a proper place within the normative sense based on claims that participation supports democratic values by fostering a