By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, March 13, GNA – Professor Nana Ama Browne Klutse, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I for the seventh assessment cycle, says the involvement of young people in the fundamentals of climate science education will spur them to contribute to smart solutions.
“The Most important solutions are coming from the youth. The IPCC believes in their magical innovations, so we need to educate and encourage them to give off their best,” she said.
Professor Klutse, who was speaking at the launch of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Ghana Project and Greening Schools Initiative in Accra, said everyone had contributed to the changing weather patterns and must be part of the solution.
The GLOBE Programme is an international science and education programme that focuses on promoting scientific literacy and building connections between people passionate about the environment.
As part of the GLOBE Ghana project, the University of Ghana Basic School and the Madina Seventh Day Adventist Church Basic School would be supported with weather stations to monitor the daily forecast and share the report with their community members to enable them to plan.
There will also be tree planting and naturing activities at the schools involved in the project, sponsored by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Green Fund.
Professor Klutse said: “If you live in a house, some trees might have been fell and processed into wood for the roof. That means we have contributed to the crisis. We all need to be part of the solutions because it is a developmental, political and socio-economic problem.”
She pledged to support the initiative at the schools to deepen the understanding of young people and encourage them to study science, environment, mathematics, and engineering programmes.
Dr. Kwabena B. Tandoh, the Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the Ghana Education Service, said the GLOBE activities would afford the students the opportunity to collect real time data on wind speed, humidity, and temperature, as well as conduct analysis.
He stated that the initiative would enhance the educational experience and foster their understanding of meteorology and climate science.
The GLOBE activities, Dr Tandoh said, would not only benefit students but teachers and provide resources and tools for practical work at schools.
Mrs Olivia Serwaa Opare, Government Contact Point, GLOBE Ghana, Ghana Education Service, stated that it had become imperative to take steps to live with the impacts of climate crisis, and one of the important means was to plant and nurture trees to absorb greenhouse gases.
“We have only one earth, and if care is not taken to live in a sustainable manner, humanity will perish,” she said.
Madam Illai Kenney, the Managing Director of the HBCU Green Fund, said the support for the GLOBE activities was in line with their goals to provide young people on the continent with the skills, experience, and opportunities to realise their dreams.
“There is a lot of energy from the youth on the continent, so we are sponsoring and connecting them with resources, experience, and experts in the United States of America,” she said.
It has three primary goals – increasing environmental awareness, contributing to increased scientific understanding of the Earth, and supporting improved student achievement in science and mathematics.
By participating in GLOBE, students, teachers, researchers, and lifelong learners can connect with the programme’s global community.
GLOBE learners also investigate and study Earth System Science through their own research projects and those led by NASA.
GNA