Sunyani, Sept. 1, GNA – Professor Daniel A. Ofori, the Director of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), has implored stakeholders to collaborate and support government’s efforts to attain a sustainable green economy.
Prof. Ofori made the appeal in a presentation at the launch of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) Natural Resources Students’ Association (NARSA) Week at the Sunyani campus on Thursday.
It was on the theme: »Achieving Sustainable Green Economy: The Role of Natural Resources Students ».
He said the Government had rolled out many programmes and policies such as the National Climate Change Policy, National Environmental Policy, Environmental Fiscal Reform Policy and Plantation Policy targeted at obtaining a green economy.
Ghana has also signed unto the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and committed to restoring two million hectares of degraded lands by 2030.
Other interventions are the Forest Plantation Strategy 2016-2040, projecting more than four million hectares of tree plantations, the Forest Investment Programme, Green Ghana Project, Solar power and E-mobility and the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to accelerate sustainable energy transition and enhance landscape restoration, among others.
Prof Ofori, however, expressed worry over some unpatriotic Ghanaians undermining government’s efforts, and cited illegal miners, who had destroyed FORIG’s station at Benso at Tarkwa-Nsuem in the Western Region, a reserve site where a lot of trials were on-going.
“Now illegal miners have ruined the trials because of gold mining,” he said.
Prof. Ofori urged the students to intensify research in technological development and deployment to support the transfer of suitable emerging technologies to meet the country’s needs.
Prof Simon Abugri, the Dean of School of Natural Resources, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the students had been trained to impact on society with the knowledge.
He said during the celebration they adopted a community and identified its natural resource conservation and related challenges and assisted with suitable solutions.
