Universities in Western Africa have been urged to redesign their curricula with special focus on climate information systems and smart agricultural production techniques.
This is to help raise the needed awareness of climate change and its related challenges among the youth and help train them effectively to find appropriate strategies to address such problems in the sub-region.
Professor Wilson Agyare, the Director of West African Science Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), who made the call, said climate change and its related challenges had become critical and needed to be addressed at every level to ensure food security and sustainable environment.
Prof. Agyare was speaking at a capacity-building workshop at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi for some lecturers, deans, and post graduate directors from selected Universities in West Africa.
The workshop, organised by WASCAL and its partners, focuses on integrating climate change in university curricula across West Africa and to equip the universities with the tools and knowledge to address challenges posed by climate change.
Among some of the issues discussed were training on soil carbon sequestration, crop production, renewable energy, water resources, and agriculture development.
Dr Agyare said climate change issues needed to be addressed from all fronts because it was evasive and directly affected agriculture, which happened to be the backbone of West African countries and subsequently, food security.
He said farmers must be trained to adapt to climate–related challenges such as rising temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns.
Prof Rita Akosua Dickson, the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST said integrating climate change and its related issues into the university curricular was a laudable idea since it would enable the universities to make substantial contributions in solving climate change challenges.
Source: GNA