Professors, environmentalists and sustainability experts from across Africa have condemned human activities that are posing a threat to the environment and human life.
They have emphasized the need for pragmatic efforts in protecting the environment as well as ensuring the fight against the climate crisis.
Speaking to the media during the launch of a 3-day international conference under the theme, “Enhancing Environment, Social, Governance and Sustainability for Africa’s Development”, they underscored the need for a collaborative effort in forging forward to achieving the 17 sustainable development goals by 2030.
The conference dubbed “Conversation on Integration of Environment, Social, Governance and Sustainability into Business Practices” (ICESDA) which begins from the 26th to 28th of March seeks to bring academia and industry players on board for an extensive conversation that addresses social, and environmental and governance issues to promote sustainability across all sectors.
A Chairman of the conference and president of Green Communities International, Prof. De-Graft Owusu-Manu, indicated that “There’s a missing link if the academics meet and discuss issues on sustainability and the real guys (industry players) that are supposed to implement them are not there.
“So, we are bringing everyone on board, academics and those in the industry to bridge that gap so that when the stories are developed by the academicians, the industries will pick it up and blow it up commercially.”
The professor added that, “Among other topics, we will be looking at sustainable innovation in the built environment. The whole industry depends on the built environment, so anywhere the built environment suffers, the whole economy suffers. We will also be looking at social entrepreneurship and indigenous management.”
Conference co-chairman, Dr. Christian Sewordor Mensah also said, “If we don’t act now, if we don’t stop polluting the environment today, tomorrow we are all going to get choked. If we don’t protect our food if we continue to waste food, post-harvest losses. If we continue to misuse our resources, will there be enough to cater for ourselves let alone sustain our future generations? And if this happens, what do you think will happen to us. If I don’t get food to eat today and go hungry, I get sick, then eventually, I will die off.”
He further emphasized that “Animals are getting extinct, so we need to act and act immediately. We need to act through research and innovation and that is why we have presented this platform so that whatever the academicians and industries are doing either knowingly or unknowingly that is promoting or polluting our environment they will realize to either continue or stop.”
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