Need to act now on biodiversity loss – Prof Gordon
Human management of natural resources is pushing the environment to a tipping point, creating an effect that may affect sustainability and security, Professor Christopher Gordon, an environmental scientist, has said.
According to him, the rate at which natural resources are being exploited was leading to a dramatic ecological change that may be difficult to reverse, considering the growing sense of urgency surrounding the issue of global climate change.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the Biannual Media Forum on Natural Resource, Environment, Natural Resource, Climate Change and Science (BIM-NECS).in Accra, Prof. Gordon explained that the destruction of the ecology was leading to the pollution of water bodies and the depletion of forest reserves, all of which sustained humankind.
“There are planetary boundaries, and they include water, climate change and biodiversity. We are approaching the limit of what the earth can sustain.
“The contaminants being pushed out there are too high… Today, we have black carbon in the heart of a baby in the womb. It means the mother inhaled it and it has travelled all the way,” he said,” noting that the future of generations is being mortgaged.
The Media Forum was on the theme, “Strengthening Media Focus on Natural Resources, Environment, Climate Change and Science: Challenges Prospects and way forward.”
Prof. Gordon urged the media to break the environmental issues down to the level of locals and tell the stories of how floods, an impact of climate change, affect the livelihood of the ordinary person.
They should report the facts and refrain from infusing their perceptions and embellishing stories on climate change.
“Now there are new media, many people who are on social media are untrained, for them the messenger is more important than the message, we do not have to be like them, “he said.
Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Media, Arts and Communication in a statement delivered for him said the school would train and develop courses to equip journalists with the skills to report on natural resource governance.
Ms Audrey Quarcoo, the Director of Corporate Affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency said there was a need for the collective effort of individuals and other stakeholders to consistently address environmental issues and initiate sound measures to protect and enhance the environment.
Source: GNA