Members of the Ghana Photojournalists network in a group photograph with the Accra Mayor, Mohammed Sowah and other officials from the AMA and the Forestry Commission.
THE GHANA Photojournalists Network (GPN) and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly AMA have joined forces in the fight against climate change.
Ghana, has in recent years, been hard hit by climate change which has led to the loss of large portions of Ghana’s vegetation.
This has resulted in several undesirable conditions including perennial floods, heavy downpour of rain, and excess heat in many parts of the country as well as poor agricultural yields among others.
In addressing the phenomenon, President Akufo-Addo, on June 11 this year launched the ‘Green Ghana Project’ – an initiative aimed to restore Ghana’s depleted vegetation through the planting of 5 million trees across the country.
As a contribution to the initiative, the Ghana Photojournalists Network in commemorating this year’s World Photography Day on Thursday, August 19 partnered with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to hold a tree planting exercise behind the Ghana National Fire Service Training Academy in Accra.
Addressing participants at the exercise, President of the Network, David Andoh said members of the Network were committed to redefining their roles as photojournalists by investing some level of attention to climate change and its adverse effects on livelihoods.
This, he explained, they would do by “using our lenses to educate the masses on the importance of maintaining good vegetation.”
Mr Andoh also added that photojournalists would support state authorities in combating the phenomenon by exposing individuals who have no consideration for the negative effects of their activities on the nation’s vegetation.
He went on to call on individuals, civil societies, state institutions and the general public to come together and collectively, support the fight against climate change by planting more trees and nurturing the ones already planted.
On his part, the Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah said the city of Accra was increasingly becoming “a concrete jungle” and that “we have to move faster” in reversing the current trend.
As Ghana had signed on to the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Mayor bemoaned that “we have few years to meet the target and I must say that the city [of Accra] and the nation and all almost all countries in the world are lagging in meeting the target”.
“We are in a period of crises”, he intimated. “And the climate crisis we are experiencing today is the result of the flooding and heavy rains that we see within the city; as well as many parts of the country where we also see poor agricultural practices.
“It befalls on all of us as individuals, organizations, state and non-state actors to be part of the fight against climate change. Our human interventions today will help us to survive tomorrow.”
The Ghana Photojournalists Network tree planting exercise saw about 50 trees planted by members on World Photography Day.
Themed: ‘Restoring Ghana’s Vegetative Cover: The Contribution of the Photojournalist,” the exercise aimed at supporting the government’s Green Ghana Project.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio