Government not interested in using technology to curb floods – Prof Klutse

An Associate Professor at the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Ama Browne Klutse, has said the government has not exhibited the commitment to use technology to tackle environmental issues in the country.

She believes the technology at the disposal of the government currently can help curb floods and also protect the environment from all forms of degradation, but she said, unfortunately, authorities have refused to make good use of applied science.

She made this known on Women On The Frontline on TV XYZ during the weekend when she appeared on the programme to tell her life story.

Prof. Klutse who has done several consultancy works for the UN, UNDP, ECOWAS, and other international organisations noted that some of the challenges of the country can be dealt with using science.

Commenting on some of the serious challenges the country is grappling with, Prof. Klutse, a former employee of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission said

“I started as a research scientist [at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission]; I did research; I used satellite to monitor space; something like the forest,I used satellite to monitor from space,” she told host Margaret Ansei (Magoo).

She continued to elaborate on how satellite could be used to monitor the construction of houses and prevent people from building on water ways.

“I could also monitor the settlement; housing. So one of the applications that was very important, even for Accra, was the one we used to monitor new houses and control those building on water ways and stop them immediately as well as those that are building at areas demarcated for roads and stop them but the government is not using this technology as much as it is supposed to be used,” Prof Klutse added.

Floods

The comment of the Cloud and Atmospheric Physician comes barely a week after the national capital, Accra, was terribly flooded which killed a few persons.

The downpour caused some parts of Accra and other urban centres in the Greater Accra Region, including North Kaneshie, Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kasoa to be flooded.

Other areas that were flooded included Weija, Teshie, Dansoman, Tse Addo and Tesano. The same areas were flooded with some houses submerged in floodwaters over the weekend.

The phenomenon obstructed traffic flow on some major roads in the capital as government officials blamed the sale of mangroves and waterlogged areas to developers.

Prof Nana Ama Browne Klutse believes there are institutions that can help the government to fight the perennial floods at a time private developers grab lands on water ways and other restricted areas reserved to save the environment.

Prof Klutse has interest in Climate Dynamics and Thermodynamics, Regional Climate Modelling and Computational Tools for climate science.