By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Sept. 26, GNA – Naa Kadri Ibrahim, the chief of Jinpenhi in the Wala Traditional Area, has proposed adding climate change as a standalone subject to Ghana’s school curriculum to equip young people with the knowledge and skills needed to respond to its impacts.
He argued that climate change had become too important a development issue to be treated only as a topic embedded in subjects such as science and social studies.
Naa Ibrahm, also the Secretary to the Overlord of the Wala Traditional Area and Headteacher of Fongo E/A Junior High School in Wa, proposed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa.
He said although climate-related issues were discussed in various subjects, the current approach did not give the issue the level of attention required considering its growing effects on communities and livelihoods.
Naa Ibrahim said: “Probably today, we should have been studying climate change as a subject in school. But what do we find?
“We find piecemeal arrangements embedded into subjects, maybe science, social studies, but from the way I see it, it should have been a subject.”
Naa Ibrahim observed that the importance attached to climate change globally demonstrated the need for governments and educational institutions to give the issue greater prominence.
On his part, Mr Salifu Issifu Kanton, Executive Director, Community Development Alliance (CDA), raised concerns about the ineffective dissemination of climate change policies in the country.
He said though Ghana’s national climate change policies clearly outlined responsibilities for climate change adaptation, weak communication of the policies had contributed to low awareness.
Mr Kanton explained that as a result of the limited knowledge of Ghana’s climate change policies, many people remain unaware of their responsibilities in managing and adapting to climate change.
He said the situation underscored the need for stronger communication strategies to ensure that climate change policies reached communities and groups most affected by climate impacts.
Mr Kanton added that improved dissemination would help address awareness and capacity gaps and enable people to better understand their roles in climate change adaptation.
He indicated that CDA worked to protect the environment and the rights of vulnerable populations, women and youth, and had climate adaptation and climate justice as cross-cutting themes in its programmes.
The CDA Director added that the organisation adopted a community-based approach to climate adaptation because communities experiencing climate impacts understood their vulnerabilities and challenges best.
“So, if you want to achieve sustainable climate intervention, they have to be embedded into community systems, community values, community norms, so that communities can take ownership of whatever interventions that are implemented to help them better adapt to the difficulties that climate change presents to them”, Mr Kanton explained.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Philip Tengzu, GNA
Email: [email protected]