Shall we continue to be spectators for the environment to be destroyed ? [Article]

For the world to be make a better place in future and for the Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved, then there is a need to find ways and means to eradicate toxic materials that pollute the water bodies and the entire ecosystem.

Also, going green will aid to improve the quality of life in terms of mortality and diseases.

Going green goes beyond turning off lights in your house when there is no one available or gathering rubbish for recycling, but is about being mindful of the daily activities that goes on in the natural environment and the purpose of how we live.

“Look after the land and they will look after you, destroy the land and it will destroy you” Aboriginal Proverb.

Shall we continue to be spectators for the environment to be destroyed?

Never, our predecessors have already passed away by doing what they could, it is now time for we young ones to take over the baton to combat climate related issues and manage resources properly for a sustainable future.

Recently, Strategic Youth Network For development (SYND) organized climate finance workshop in Accra where they expressed their discontent on the number of times they have written proposals seeking for financial supports from government and organizations but all their efforts arrived at no positive result.

Within the next 10 years (2020-2030) SYND seeks to achieve the National Determined  Contributions (NDCs) where there’s a need to mobilize USD 22.6billion within this period and the objective of this is to help reduce national emissions and adapt the impact of climate change. The mobilizations of financial resources is key in ensuring that Ghana addresses many of the challenges associated with the implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions.

How can than this objectives come to reality if  they are not supported by government and how will challenges be solve when there are no funds to help organizations?

For these climate related issue to be curbed they must be supported by government and organizations but here lies the case where government is not willing to support  but it has be documented that between 2013 and 2017 Ghana received an amount of $776 million in climate related finance, this question still keeps ringing in mind, what was this money used for and how was it spend?

None of this climate  monetary issues has been revealed to citizens   but has been documented.

Should we remain spectators for our resources to be misused?  The future is ours, the green vegetation and entire ecosystem too is ours but how do we achieve the sustainability of all these resources. Can all these seventeen SDGs be achieve before 2030? Where goal 13 says take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, an average of 83,000 people died and 211 million were affected each year by natural disasters occurring from 2000-2013. All these are effects of climate change which demands urgent attentions for us to get a better future.

It is time to promote green, let’s all “be citizens and not  spectators” by supporting organizations who are into green either strengthen them financially or work together to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystem, sustainably manage forest, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (SDG 15).

Moreover, lets prevent pollution of waterways with rubbish instead recycle them  again avoid  burning of  plastics to avert climate change.

The writer, Simpi Irene Abra is a environmental activist and student journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism