A 12-year-old climate activist with Centre for Climate Change & Food Security (CCCFS) has called on government to look at profound, and systemic shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both Ghanaians and the planet.

Aisha Hairiya Fofana believes it is evident that hundreds of people in Ghana especially those in farming communities still lack safe water and sanitation, as cleaning hands can lessen the transmission of Covid-19. 
Aisha wants government to make a constant investment in that area.
She is also reminding Ghanaians that COVID-19 should not undermine the need for environmental actions.

The issue of waste management is one of Aisha’s main concerns artivulated in the under-4- minutes video released to mark World Environmental Day.

According to her, the pandemic also provides an opportunity for the government to as a matter of urgency treat waste to minimise the practical secondary impact upon health and the environment.

“We know plastic does not immanently make anything clean, healthy or safe,” she said.

Aisha expresses worry because covid-19 doesn’t only hit human beings but also species in many ways.

“We at Centre for Climate Change & Food security are worried. We are worried because we are consciously aware whatever that happens today has a direct link with the future.”

The young climate activist reiterates that the risk of Covid-19 to non-human primates is hard to quantify, tough to know and overwhelming to put them into numbers.

The 12-year-old passionately asserts that: “we are aware of the impact of Covid-19 on animals like great apes, of which seven species are already endangered by extinction.”

According to Aisha, Ghana cannot overlook the biggest threat of climate change facing humanity over the long term due to COVID-19 crisis.

The postponement of international meetings and negotiations that would have led to a decade-long ‘post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, acknowledgment of nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation are disturbing to many activists like Aisha. 

“We are losing critical time to address biodiversity crisis,” she said.

Aisha is of the view that no time is too small to act and that this is even the best time for environmental actions.