Quality data collection, analysis key to environmental solutions

The University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) at Somanya in the Eastern Region has been urged to continue to conduct high-level research through quality data collections, analysis and innovations that would provide nature-based solutions to critical environmental issues from desertification and coastal erosion to waste management, sustainable forest management and sustainable water utilisation, as ingenuity is key. 

“Continue to create new partnerships both locally and internationally and strengthen existing ones, develop interdisciplinary collaboration and increase your local community outreach and engagements,” the Principal Research Scientist of CSIR, Dr Mrs Gloria Djaney Djagbletey, gave the advice as the guest speaker at the climax of the fifth anniversary of UESD at Somanya.

On the theme: “Sustainable steps towards securing the environment: Five years of achievements, challenges and progress,” the students of UESD are currently emerging not only as graduates but as ambassadors of sustainability.

The university was established by Act 898 (2015) and inaugurated on August 5, 2020, when the world was at a critical crossroads, grappling with climate change, environmental degradation and socio-economic challenges intensified by a global pandemic (COVID-19). 

Achievements 

Dr Mrs Djagbletey lauded UESD’s commitment to sustainable development, leading to the achievement of its vision of securing the environment.

She commended management for the accelerated and exponential growth from 11 undergraduate programmes to 27 currently, with three postgraduate programmes. 

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Eric Nyarko-Sampson, in his report, said as part of the initiative of the university to take the gown to town, rolled out a programme dubbed, Community-based Experience Learning (COBEL), which places students in communities to engage in service learning and environmental problem-solving initiatives to help offer solutions to some of the teething problems in the communities in and around UESD catchment areas.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Prof. Nana Ama Browne Klutse, said the mandate of EPA is to protect the environment.

She said that in protecting the environment, they needed the right skills.

Thus, tertiary institutions such as UESD provide the academic and research support for EPA.

The Chairman of the University’s Council, Seth Terkper, who gave a brief history of the establishment of the university, was grateful to all stakeholders, particularly the late Nene Odokor Tumeh (GT Odonkor), who was then the acting Konor for the Yilo Krobo Traditional Area, for donating significantly in cash and kind for the establishment of the university in the Yilo Krobo community.