A PROTECTED EARTH FOR POSTERITY

The National Commission for Civic Education joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Environment Day. The Day is celebrated annually on 5th June to create awareness among citizens in member nations about the need to protect the environment. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Only One Earth”. The theme calls for a collective transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore the planet, encouraging everyone to live sustainably and take action on the climate crisis.

The environment forms the basic unit of life; air, water bodies, vegetation, soil, and living organisms depend on it. As the adage goes, “When the last tree dies, the last man dies”, buttresses the importance for all to acknowledge worldwide efforts made towards safeguarding the environment. Article 41 (k) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana entreats citizens to protect and safeguard the environment.

In the preamble for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders affirmed their determination to protect the planet from degradation. There are fears that the continuous degradation of the environment, the risk of facing atmospheric change, loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution, water scarcity, and poverty. These actions affect the socio-economic development of the nation and leave a negative environmental footprint that impedes sustainable development.

The NCCE, therefore, implores the government and policymakers to implement sustainable policies that are geared toward ensuring that industries, organizations, and citizens, in general, are environmentally mindful of their responsibility to protect the environment. Citizens must be encouraged to uphold values on environmental governance to conserve the country’s natural resources.

The Commission urges Ghanaians to adopt practices such as the use of biodegradable materials, proper disposal of waste, recycling, avoiding indiscriminate use of water and electricity, and switching to environmentally friendly options like solar power and reafforestation. All these when done consistently would help minimize the damage to the environment, to reduce the strain on human and economic resources for national development.

Remember, we only have one earth, one life, and one nation!

Happy World Environment Day!