CIVIL Society Organisations (CSOs) in the three Northern Regions have forged a partnership with the media to highlight environmental issues and advocate sustainable environmental practices.
Consequently, both parties would meet on a quarterly basis to identify emerging environmental threats or issues and analyse the state of implementation of interventions meant to address environmental challenges.
The partnership was formed at a three-day workshop organised by the Rural Media Network (RUMNET) with support from two other organisations.
The workshop sought to build the capacity of the journalists and CSOs to use effective advocacy tools to promote sustainable environmental management practices.
Both partners acknowledged that northern Ghana was more prone to the negative effects of climate change due to the high incidence of land degradation and the threat of desertification.
Activities such as surface mining, illegal logging, charcoal production, hazardous agronomic practices, wrongful use of agro-chemicals and bush burning have led to the destruction of the vegetation and biodiversity.
Again, agriculture in northern Ghana is rain-fed, therefore, any variations in rainfall and soil fertility could have adverse effects on the production of food, which would inevitably affect the livelihoods of many households whose mainstay is agriculture.
The media practitioners thus, pledged to give adequate attention to environmental issues, particularly those pertaining to the three northern regions by giving them prominence, enough space or airtime and regular featuring.
They also resolved to research, investigate and expose those negative practices, whilst advocating safe and sustainable environmental management practices such as the use of solar energy, organic manure and liquefied gas.
The CSOs, for their part, agreed to provide information on issues on the environment on a regular basis to the media practitioners to build their capacity to raise awareness about those issues.
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