By Hafsa Obeng, GNA
Accra, Oct. 3, GNA – Ghana is seeking to strengthen the use of satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, drones and geospatial technologies to monitor environmental degradation and improve the country’s response to climate-related challenges.
Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, said space technology offered significant opportunities to shift Ghana’s environmental management approach from reactive interventions to evidence-based and predictive governance.
She said satellite and Earth observation technologies could provide timely information on deforestation, illegal mining, land degradation, water bodies, wetlands, biodiversity, coastal erosion, drought and other environmental threats.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said this at a media engagement on Ghana’s space science and technology agenda in Accra as part of her first 100 days public engagement programme.
She said the Ministry had a particular interest in using space technology to protect Ghana’s natural environment and strengthen climate action, especially in the fight against illegal mining and degradation of water bodies.
“Our response to environmental degradation must increasingly be supported by credible, timely, and spatially disaggregated information,” she said.
The Minister said Ghana needed to combine satellite imagery, drones, ground observation, geospatial systems and artificial intelligence to identify environmental changes, support enforcement and measure the effectiveness of interventions.
She said satellite technology could support early warning systems for floods, monitoring of forest cover, climate adaptation, agricultural planning and coastal management.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said satellite information could help farmers obtain reliable information on weather and crop conditions, while coastal authorities could use it to monitor erosion and changes in marine ecosystems.
She said Government would strengthen partnerships with international space agencies, universities, research institutions and development partners to build national capacity.
The Minister said Ghana would also invest in human capital to equip young people with skills in remote sensing, geospatial science, artificial intelligence, robotics, data science, aerospace and satellite engineering.
She said Ghana’s space ambitions must be accompanied by responsible and sustainable use of outer space, given the growing number of satellites and the challenge of space debris.
Dr Joseph Bremang Tandoh, Director of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI), said Ghana could use space technology to monitor forests, water bodies, coastal erosion and other natural resources more efficiently.
He said the country’s ability to do so was constrained by inadequate funding for satellite imagery and limited processing capacity.
Dr Tandoh said Ghana depended largely on satellite images obtained through partnerships because the Institute did not have sufficient resources to purchase high-resolution imagery covering the entire country.
“We don’t have a budget to buy satellite images. That is the truth. Nobody will give you a high-resolution image for free,” he said.
He said some imagery available to the Institute had a resolution of about 10 metres and was optical, meaning cloud cover could obstruct the images and affect the results.
Dr Tandoh said the Institute also lacked adequate processing power to handle large volumes of satellite imagery.
He said Ghana’s dependence on external satellite systems was evident during emergencies such as floods, when the country had to use international mechanisms to obtain imagery.
“When there’s flood, we have to sign the UN Charter to get UNOSA to release images for us. But we need to move from being dependent on other countries’ satellites and develop our own,” he said.
Dr Tandoh said developing Ghana’s own satellite capability would provide timely information for environmental monitoring, agriculture, disaster management and surveillance.
He said satellite technology could help predict maize production before the end of the farming season and identify flood-prone areas to support disaster response planning.
He said establishing the Ghana Space Agency would also help coordinate the acquisition and use of satellite data across government institutions.
Dr Tandoh said Cabinet had approved the establishment of the agency, while the necessary legislative process was being pursued through the Attorney-General’s Department.
GNA
Reporter: Hafsa Obeng
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