A group of 22 Ghanaians made up of professionals and students working on environment-related issues arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) on Sunday to participate in an exchange programme between the University of Duquesne and the University of Ghana, Legon. The programme, funded by the United States government, aims at training emerging leaders to effectively manage complex environmental and social challenges that result from the extraction or mining of natural resources such as oil and minerals. Dr George Wiafe, Lecturer at the Oceanography Department of the University of Ghana and coordinator of the programme, said at a pre-departure meeting that the programme would also highlight best practices in terms of managing the extractive industries in both countries, and urged the participants to be open to new ideas. The Ghanaian participants will spend four weeks in the United States working alongside their American counterparts to explore the challenges faced in the Marcellus Shale gas extraction project in Western Pennsylvania. Dr Wiafe said the University of Ghana would play host to their American counterparts in the same programme next year, and explained that the exchange experience will focus on leadership of public interest groups, implications of environmental governance, land management and natural resource use. Participants would also examine the differences in land management systems in the US and Ghana and how the different systems impact on the economic, environmental and social development of both countries. The programme's itinerary would include field visits to operation sites of extractive industries and meetings with relevant leaders in government, industry, civil society and non governmental organizations. Participants are expected to make targeted recommendations to protect the environment and society, while ensuring that both countries benefit from the extractive industries. Source: GNA