Green job strategy to preserve environment, create jobs – NR Minister

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, has said the increase in population and unsustainable environmental practices have destroyed the environment and adversely affected humans.

He, however, stated that the collaborative effort of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and SNV-Ghana to introduce the Green Job Strategy has brought some relief.

Alhaji Alhassan Shaibu said the strategy would help to preserve and protect the environment and create job opportunities.

The Minister said this during a sensitisation workshop on the Green Jobs Strategy in Tamale on Monday.

The Minister said, “Green Job Strategy will present Ghana as a leader in the global fight against climate change.”

He said the strategy of harnessing the power of green technologies, renewable energy, sustainable agricultural practices and eco-tourism, would change “the citizens’ view and approach to recruitment and employment practices.”

The Minister said the strategy recognised that employment approaches must go in tandem with practices that pay attention to the preservation of flora and fauna.

That, he said, could be achieved, through the promotion and implementation of green industries.

The result of this, he said, would be abandoning harmful environmental practices that degrade the ecosystem.

The Minister said the harm bad environmental practices do the environment is enough to challenge all to embrace the National Green Job strategy as a catalyst for change.

The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, noted that Ghana is obliged as a signatory to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to take deliberate actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He said though climate action measures offer a wide range of benefits, they equally have adverse effects on the labour market.

Given this, Mr Baffour Awuah said, “The International Labour Organisation (ILO) advocates for transition to an environmentally sustainable economy.”

That, he said, involved a strategy that seeks to minimise negative impacts and maximise job creation.