Media entreated to give prominence to climate change issues
A Youth-driven grass-roots climate action organisation, Green Republic Project, has appealed to the media to give more prominence to climate change issues to promote responsible and sustainable environmental consciousness among the citizenry.
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“I would like to appeal to the media, the fourth estate of the realm and agenda setters, to use your platforms to set the climate agenda by giving climate and environmental-related stories frontage headlines, including editorials, to generate discussions around the subject.
“It will also help educate the masses on the need for responsible and sustainable environmental practices if we are to win the climate battle which threatens our very survival as a people,” the Founder and Convener of the project, Nana Yaw Osei-Darkwa, said.
Mr Osei-Darkwa, who was speaking at the third annual Climate Benefit Ball in Accra last Saturday, added that creating public awareness could change the everyday habits of citizens towards the environment.
Event
The event, which was attended by heads of agencies, captains of industry, members of the diplomatic community and corporate leaders, among other stakeholders, was on the theme: “Reversing the climate trends, no future without trees”.
It was also to showcase the strides made by the organisation in making the country greener; raise funds to support its “engaging the future” series, an initiative targeted at promoting sustainer environmental practices among children and the youth, and planting about 100,000 trees in the country by September, 2023.
The Director-General of the National Lottery Authority, Sammy Awuku, received the Climate Change Enabler Award, an award given each year to individuals who are committed to conservation and landscape restoration.
More trees
To significantly reverse climate change trends, Mr Osei-Darkwa further said there was the need for individuals to plant more trees and also alter their lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions.
“If we fail to appreciate the tricky and uncertain times we find ourselves in and continue to do the same things we have been doing to bring us to this point, I shudder to say we will be digging our own graves and inviting Armageddon,” he said.
According to Mr Osei-Darkwa, “the Green Republic Project is not just about planting and caring for trees, but equally and more importantly doing sensitisation through community and media engagements, holding international meetings and conferences and creating platforms such as the annual climate benefit ball series to drum home the importance of a sustainable world”.
Social responsibility
The Managing Director of Ghana Post, Bice Osei Kuffour, urged establishments to dedicate a component of their social corporate responsibility funds to promote sustainable environment practices.
For her part, the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Berenice Owen-Jones, said her country was leading worldwide efforts in reforestation projects by investing more in the sector.