Day: June 26, 2023

The Ghana Compact Technical Consultation on Climate is to develop a well-structured long-term plan, built on the consensus of various actors in the environmental chain to address the increasing temperature, erratic rainfall, and consistent flooding in Ghana.

It is further to complement the current efforts by the government to address issues of climate change, which has demonstrated its vulnerability to the climate change crisis.

To ensure success of the programme, participants at a Ghana Compact Technical Consultation on Climate attending an event hosted in Tamale by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), have called for a shift towards climate smart agriculture, which involves use of improved certified seeds and other technologies to increase food production whilst protecting the environment.

They have also called for a combination of food crops’ production and tree planting (agro-forestry) to tackle carbon issues while ensuring food security.

Again, they advocated tailored radio programmes on climate change and weather reports delivered to farmers’ mobile phones to learn best agricultural practices to improve production whilst protecting the environment.

The event drew participants from research institutions, academia, non-governmental organisations, media practitioners amongst others, to deliberate on how to address the climate and environmental challenges confronting the country.

Dr Garzali Issahaku, from the Department of Food Security and Climate Change, University for Development Studies (UDS), who is currently on secondment to the Bagabaga College of Education as its Principal, touched on ways the country could achieve the global mitigation targets and at the same time increase food production.

Dr Issahaku argued that; ‘Going full-time afforestation is dangerous when you have an agrarian society. If we want to achieve the objective of climate smartness in terms of carbon sequestration in terms of mitigation; Ghana meeting her mitigation targets, then, we should go in for agro-forestry where we combine our tree crop production as well as food crops so that we can still meet our food needs and still achieve the global mitigation targets.’

He called for commitment and collaboration to finance climate mitigation plans for effective implementation to help tackle climate and environmental challenges confronting the country.

Professor Abukari Alhassan, Director for the West African Centre for Shea Innovation and Research, UDS, said, ‘Afforestation is one of the very key areas, especially in terms of embarking on the planting of shea trees, which we all know, according to research, that it can sequester carbon, that is, it can tap the carbon into the shea tree that can also help to reduce some of these greenhouse emissions that we have.’

Mr Habib Haruna, Chief Executive Officer, Pure Trust Foundation lauded the recommendation to invest in women’s knowledge on climate change to increase their voices on issues of climate change adding, ‘There is also need to invest in access to production equipment and resources for women to be able to adapt to climate change issues.’

Professor John Asafu Adjaye, Senior Fellow, ACET said the inputs gathered during the event in Tamale and other parts of the country would culminate into a citizens’ compact, which would provide alternative options for the country to enhance climate resilience and adaptability strategies for reducing carbon emissions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

On Saturday evening, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military group, accepted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s suggestion to halt Wagner’s operations in Russia, and take further measures to ease tension, pledging that the Wagner column will stop advancing and return to camp.

The Wagner group, accused of attempting to launch an armed rebellion on Friday night, had created a sort of mayhem within Russia. How did it come about that the tension had been swiftly defused?

The pivotal point of the incident was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s televised address to the nation on Saturday. ‘Any actions that split our nation are essentially a betrayal of our people, of our comrades-in-arms who are now fighting at the front line. This is a stab in the back of our country and our people,’ Putin said. ‘I urge those who are being dragged into this crime not to make a fatal and tragic mistake, but to make the only right choice – to stop participating in criminal acts,’ he stressed.

The consensus in Russian public opinion is that by characterizing the incident as a rebellion, Putin demonstrated his unwavering determination to maintain national unity, overawing the rebels and eroding their willpower.

In a statement to Wagner members, the Russian Defense Ministry urged: ‘We ask you to be prudent and get in touch with representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry or law enforcement agencies as soon as possible. We guarantee everyone’s safety.’

Around 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) on Friday, things took a dramatic turn as Prigozhin, accepted Lukashenko’s proposal to stop the advance of his troops and de-escalate the situation, according to local media.

Later, both Moscow and Prigozhin verified the information. Vasily Golubev, governor of Rostov Oblast, said in his telegram that Wagner troops had withdrawn from Rostov-on-Don, and returned to their field camps. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Lukashenko has been personally acquainted with Prigozhin for about 20 years and ‘this was his personal proposal agreed with Putin.’

It is widely believed that the important prerequisites for achieving reconciliation are the guarantees made by Putin that Prigozhin will be able to leave for Belarus, members involved in the rebellion will not be prosecuted, and those who did not participate can sign contracts with the defense ministry.

The pressure exerted by all walks of the society also played a significant role in Prigozhin’s ultimate compromise. Politicians, representatives from various regions and others strongly condemned the incident, and explicitly expressed their support for the government to safeguard stability and peace.

‘No matter how the armed rebellion is explained, it is still precisely an armed rebellion in the rear of a warring army,’ said Dmitry Rogozin, ex-head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, on Telegram. ‘In war, you need to support the front with all your might. Any attempt to weaken it is nothing but aiding the enemy.’

In a statement, Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s Primorye Territory, called on Wagner members to be rational and refrain from committing acts they would undoubtedly regret. ‘Society trusts the head of state. The internal upheavals could not shake the foundations of our state. It has no public and elite support,’ said Denis Baturin, a political scientist.

Source: Ghana News Agency