By Ewurabena Paha and Eric Appiah
A movement to spur climate action by experts in the environment, particularly climate change, has been formed to achieve a collective response in the fight against environmental problems.
Under the watch of GreenPeace Africa, Ghana’s chapter will utilize Civil Society Organisations and other partners in the climate change chain to tackle head-on, the ruinous effects on the continent’s environment which remain vulnerable due to silos of factors that influence it.
Speaking at the launch of the Movement in Accra, Forest Campaign Manager at GreenPeace Africa, Dr Lumfu Fabrice said the issues of climate effect on the continent are only scratched which is making the fight a difficult one.
This is why the Climate Justice Movement in Ghana will call on the public to see climate injustice as another form of terrorism against nature.
The Movement seeks to unite civil society groups, community leaders and experts to tackle urgent environmental issues in West Africa, namely deforestation, food security, devastating effects of climate change, overfishing, flooding, illegal mining as well as increasing collective actions and solutions to achieve a sustainable future.
A former Member of Parliament for Zebilla who launched the movement asked Ghanaians to take matters of climate change seriously by walking the talk. This he believes can be achieved by seeking knowledge and changing bad attitudes towards the environment.
Forest Campaign Manager at GreenPeace Africa, Dr Lamfu Fabrie Yenehong, said the movement will be holding various governments accountable at both national and international levels.
He said the movement would also create a change at different levels by allowing various communities to lead in the fight against various environmental issues facing them.
In a remark to close the two-day intensive dialogue, GreenPeace Africa’s Aissatou Cissoko said the climate situation on the continent has reached alarming proportions where lives are being lost daily.
The Climate Justice Movement has already been set up in Congo, Cameroon, and South Africa with Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania as the next port of call.
