Dr Fatima Denton, Director of the United Nations University, Institute of Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), mentioned Africa should handle the connection between pure assets and local weather change to realize sustainability.
She mentioned managing Africa’s pure assets was a fragile balancing act, involving the necessity to handle rapid vulnerabilities whereas additionally contemplating future eventualities.
Dr Denton was talking on the opening ceremony of the Natural Resource Management Leadership for Climate Change (NATURELEAD) Course by the United Nations University – Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Accra.
The Course goals to equip African establishments with the information, abilities, and instruments essential to navigate the advanced intersections between pure useful resource administration, local weather change, and financial growth.
It addresses world challenges like sustainable power, meals safety, water administration, and biodiversity conservation, whereas emphasizing the significance of local weather diplomacy and governance in driving sustainable growth.
The contributors had been drawn from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Liberia, to symbolize West African Anglophone nations.
Dr Denton mentioned efficient useful resource administration might foster financial progress, sustainable growth, and innovation, together with the shift to a inexperienced economic system, whereas additionally addressing challenges like local weather change, useful resource depletion, and altering world calls for.
She mentioned Africa should discover a option to stability these challenges whereas securing a resilient and affluent future for its folks.
The Director mentioned the world was dealing with a number of world crises that posed vital threats to the African continent such that amongst these, warfare and local weather change stand out as notably devastating.
She mentioned local weather change was accelerating, resulting in extra frequent pure disasters, rising sea ranges, and stress on ecosystems.
“Countries like the DRC, Mozambique, Ghana, and Sierra Leone are among the most vulnerable in the world,” she added.
She mentioned many African nations relied on revenues from hydrocarbons and minerals to assist their economies, nonetheless, these techniques had been fragile, threatened by the pressures of local weather change.
The Director mentioned for over three many years, that they had supported African governments by embedding analysis into policy-making processes, addressing environmental and socio-economic challenges, and fostering sustainable growth.
Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, mentioned pure assets had been the bedrock of many African economies, considerably influencing commerce, growth, and international direct funding.
She mentioned whether or not or not it’s oil, minerals, agriculture, or forests, these assets drove the expansion of countries, but local weather change posed an rising risk to those assets, endangering financial and environmental safety, and in some cases, exacerbating regional conflicts.
The Minister mentioned efficient pure useful resource administration methods could be pivotal for driving financial progress, enhancing livelihoods, and constructing resilient socio-ecosystems.
She mentioned local weather change affected a number of ecosystems and nations, making awareness-raising essential for addressing local weather safety, shared vulnerabilities, and decreasing climate-induced threats at each nationwide and regional ranges.
The Minister mentioned the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), mixed with commerce facilitation agreements, had the potential to considerably increase intra-African commerce, improve GDP progress, and promote the alternate of commercial and intermediate items throughout areas.
She added that this goal was aligned with the AU Agenda 2063, a strategic framework that envisioned an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient Africa that performed a powerful position on the worldwide stage.
Madam Botchway mentioned Ghana’s international coverage remained centered on selling regional integration, commerce, and growth, thus fostering simply and equitable regional and worldwide relations with neighbours and wider companions throughout the globe.
Source: GNA
