The Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF), in partnership with the Embassy of Denmark and the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), hosted a seminar on June 28th, 2024, addressing the nexus between climate-induced migration, peace, and security.
The seminar, held at the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, aimed to create awareness of the impact of climate change-induced migration on peace and security. The event included a lecture on the impact of climate change, a documentary revealing the experiences of Fulani migrants in Northern Ghana, and a dialogue on climate change advocacy.
Speaking to Univers News, Dr. Vincent Azuma, the Head of Monitoring and Evaluation at WANEP, emphasized the organization’s role in ensuring peace and coexistence within areas affected by climate-induced migration.
“What we do takes care of the interests of all the parties that are in various countries, so we encourage coexistence of all communities and we only do this through community dialogue and then at the national level through advocacy for policies to be made where there are no policies and also policies to be implemented where there are already policies that are not being implemented. We kind of serve as the bridge between the communities and the policymakers. We serve as a bridge and the facilitation between conflicting communities and the authorities”
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sustainable Development and Policy at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya, Dr. Price Mcapreko highlighted the importance of utilizing media technology and effective youth representation to advocate for climate change mitigation.
“One way of showing what you want to be seen and heard is to get to the public spaces, you have a campus radio station for instance, or within the representation of NUGs or the student body you can create a forum, it could be an interview forum or any kind of such where periodically and consistently they have these discussions when these become deeper or richer, other media houses pick them up and they become subject for discussions especially once they are published in the newspapers then they become subject for discussions, this would naturally invite people to call in the leadership of organizations and they begin to push their issues across and they take a national dimension.”
This seminar follows the ongoing advocacy efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of climate change on various communities.
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Story by: Vanessa Mensah | univers.ug.edu.gh
