Professor Alex Barimah Owusu, a Geographic Information Scientist, urged electorates to vote for politicians with ‘workable’ proposals to address environmental destruction, particularly illegal mining.
He explained that outright rejection of candidates who do not have practical environmental sustainability plans would force them to make that sector a principal component of their political party agendas.
“For now, political parties’ strategies have not shown concrete and convincing sustainability plans,” he told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on the sidelines of 2024 Ghana Geographers Association (GGA) Annual Conference in Accra.
“As politicians, what will they do to protect our most vital resources, particularly water? While others promise to end galamsey, some propose to end it without deliberate plans,” he stated.
The conference aims to examine the interactions between humans, space, and technology in attaining sustainable development.
It was on the theme “Advancing the Human Space and Technology Nexus for Sustainable Development.”
Prof. Owusu, a Geo. Info Scientist at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, said no candidates for the 2024 elections had presented a comprehensive plan to address the existential threats to sustainability.
He stressed the need for carrying out audits, proper zoning, and planning to minimize mining in water bodies and ensure waste does not seep into water resources.
“If political candidates promise to allow galamsey to thrive because of votes, remember the resultant effect is that the country might not get that biodiversity anymore,” he said.
Dr. Fatima Denton, the Director of United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) appealed to researchers to provide insights into spatial dynamics and technological advancements to promote sustainable development.
“Changing world is confronted with complex issues generating new forms of inequality as a result of the complexity of cascading and interconnected economic, environmental, ecological, and technological pressures and conflicts.
“The burdens caused by a warming climate are likely to unduly impact communities that are socially and geographically disadvantaged, further constraining their ability to respond effectively and increasing inequalities,” she said.
Prof. Barimah K. Antwi, the President of GGA said space science, technologies and data have the potential to contribute to achieving all the sustainable development goals.
He explained that space technologies were vital in climate change solutions, supporting modern agriculture and precision agriculture.
Prof. Antwi noted that the use of space technologies for farming and natural resources management had been limited to developed countries, however, open access to geospatial information, data products and services had made it available for use.
The GGA was established in 1958 as the official professional organization for all people associated with Geography, either through formal training, teaching, or practice.
The main activities of the GGA include the organization of annual conferences on topical national issues that enable members to present their research results for discussions towards promoting national development.
