‘Explore space technology to combat illegal mining’
The President, John Dramani Mahama, has directed the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to develop a project through the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) that will help combat illegal mining in Ghana.
Advertisement
Space science and technology would be used to construct and develop this project .
These remarks were made by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Joe Oteng-Adjei, at the opening session of the fifth African Leadership Conference on space science and technology.
The four-day forum, which has the theme “Space science and technology for sustainable development”, is being hosted by Ghana with participants from 14 countries around the world.
Mr Oteng-Adjei further stated that the project, when introduced by GSSTI, would save the deteriorating environment caused by illegal miners.
“Indeed we will also use space technologies to boost our national security systems, especially in monitoring our borders, be it sea or borders to get rid of illegal and unauthorised activities,” he added.
He also stated that his Ministry would establish research facilities for outer space programmes such as satellite communication and radio astronomy.
The Minister also noted that the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation would pursue the development of human capacities in space science through the introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate courses in some universities in Ghana.
Other Trending Stories
The President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Prof. Francis Allotey, said that space science and technology could address the challenges facing the African continent in the areas of health, agriculture, water resources management and natural disaster management.
Prof. Allotey also stated that research had predicted that water will be the next scarce commodity in the world and he called for the application of space science and technology to better assess water availability and quality.
According to Prof. Allotey, space science and technology, though expensive, could expand the economy when implemented in the various sectors of the economy.
He appealed to African leaders to invest in space science and technology to facilitate the development of the African continent.
Prof. Allotey commended South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria for investing a lot of money in space science and technology.