October 24, 2019, marks the United Nations (UN) Day. The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) joins the world in celebrating this day on the theme: “Our Planet. Our Future.” The day celebrates the creation of the UN, honours all the work undertaken to promote peace around the world, and all the achievements of their specialized agencies.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly urged everyone to champion the fight against climate change. Given this, the United Nations has declared climate change as the defining issue of our time. The NCCE associates itself with this statement and notes that it’s time and that time is now more than ever that we all commit to immediate climate action. It is against this background that, the NCCE used its 3rd Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP) Dialogue on the theme “Environmental Governance: Illegal Mining, Deforestation, and Noise Pollution”, to engage, educate and empower the citizenry to actively participate in enhancing environmental governance.
Climate Action is a shared responsibility. Therefore, international agencies, governments, civil society, the private sector, and the general public have a stake in it. As the global network of UN champions this course, the Commission entreats our government to play their role by building strong regimes and institutions that will implement proper policies and enforce laws to protect the environment for the benefit of citizens. As stated in Article 36(9) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, “The State shall take appropriate measures needed to protect and safeguard the national
environment for posterity; and shall seek co-operation with other states and bodies for purposes of protecting the wider international environment for mankind”.
The NCCE, therefore, encourages citizens as well to contribute their quota by prioritizing climate action to protect and safeguard the environment as enshrined in Article 41(k) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana which states that, “it shall be the duty of every citizen to protect and safeguard the environment”. The Commission reiterates the need for the general public to eschew bad environmental practices including Illegal mining (galamsey), deforestation noise pollution, and poor sanitation to save the planet because “Our Planet, Yes Our Future”.
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