Halt galamsey, redirect climate funds to sustainable agriculture — Climate justice forum

The National Climate Justice conference opened in Accra yesterday, with a call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to be resolute in the fight against illegal mining to save the country’s agriculture sector from imminent crisis.

Speakers at the conference also stressed the need for banks and financial institutions to stop funding fossil fuel projects and industrial agriculture that aggravated the climate crisis and redirect those finances into sustainable agricultural practices.

The speakers, including the Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Prof. Seidu Alhassan; and the Country Director of Action Aid Ghana (AAG), John Nkaw, said such a move would help to promote food sovereignty and put the country on the path of sustainable development.

They emphasised that the environmental damage caused by illegal mining and industrial agriculture was dire for food security, and  as such, needed to be dealt with as a matter of necessity.
 

Conference

Organised by AAG, the two-day conference was on the theme: "Shifting the finance funding fossil fuels and industrial agriculture to promoting food sovereignty through agroecology and indigenous seed development"

Participants in the conference included agriculture sector stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, academia, as well as state agencies such as the Environmental  Protection Agency (EPA), National Biosafety Authority (NBA), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General Department (MOJAGD).

The conference discussed key issues related to climate change and sustainable agriculture.

The discussions centred on promoting Indigenous seed development through appropriate seed storage, agroecology, the role of renewable energy in promoting food sovereignty and green economy, as well as food security and the establishment of a national indigenous seed development plan.

No commitment

Prof. Alhassan said it was worrying that despite the devastating effect of galamsey on agriculture and other aspects of humanity, there had been a lack of political commitment to deal with the menace.

He noted that  there were workable solutions to the menace, it persisted because of "Corruption, connections and confusion in the system."

"We have what it takes to fix the galamsey menace and other climate change issues but because of corruption, connections and confusion, we cannot do anything, and perpetrators do it and go free," he said.

Prof. Alhassan stressed the need for collective action to address the menace instead of fanning “The situation where some are trying to mend, others are trying to divide and others are causing more confusion”.

Prioritise food security

He said it would be difficult for the country to service its debts unless initiatives that would enhance food sovereignty were prioritised.

"The point is that we cannot go hungry and be able to pay our debts; we need to eat first," he said.

Again, he stressed that rather than loving money at the expense of the environment, the focus should be on fixing the environment.

Climate funding

On September 18, this year, ActionAid Federation launched its second flagship report dubbed: "How the Finance Flows: Corporate Capture of Public Finance Fuelling the Climate Crisis in the Global South."

The research showed that public finance in the global south was being drained by the industries driving the climate crisis — fossil fuels and industrial agriculture. 

The research highlighted the huge sum of $677 billion in subsidies that flowed into destructive sectors yearly, depriving communities of the resources to build climate resilience and secure their futures. 

Against that backdrop, Mr Nkaw said the increasing investment in industrial agriculture and fossil fuels had proven to be hampering the climate, with trickling down effects on the agriculture sector.