The Vice Chancellor of Takoradi Technical University, Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun has delivered his inaugural lecture as a full professor. Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun who is a professor of Environmental Engineering with a dedicated years of experience in environmental research, in 2013 became an Associate Professor at the then Department of Interior Design and Production at the School of Engineering of Takoradi Polytechnic.
His professorial inaugural lecture which is the second in the life of the University was delivered on the theme: “Sustainability in the Anthropocene: Rethinking our relationship with the natural world”.
The lecture explored the Ghanaian timber sector as a case study to examine the environmental performance of the industry and potential strategies for enhancing sustainability.
He gave alarming rate at which timber extraction is reducing the country’s forest resources.
“land-use change for timber production in Ghana is estimated at 34,000 hectares per year, posing a significant risk of complete deforestation if current trends persist. The total energy consumption of the timber industry is approximately 1.9 x 10^9 megajoules per year, while CO2 emissions amount to 745,000 tons annually, making the timber sector a dominant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (excluding carbon storage changes related to land use modifications).
Moreover, the sector generates approximately 0.8 million cubic meters of wood waste per year,
exacerbating the depletion of Ghana’s timber resources.,” he pointed out.
He underscored that the environment remains the most pressing challenge affecting every aspect of human life in the world, emphasizing that the various environmental crises currently threatening humanity on earth is the result from the lack of respect for the environment which is the source of life.
“Humans have continued to exploit the natural environment for their benefit without it cause and without caring about it health and sustainability. Subsequently the conquer and subdue mentality has later led to several catastrophic event dating many centuries. Whatever you do to the environment, it will react. Therefore human actions have created unforeseen reactions,” he said.
While attributing current environmental crises to human actions, he explored various environmental challenges humans are facing as a result of their continuous exploitation of the environment, noting it effects including Energy crisis, Food and water, Diseases, population growth among other crises.
He also underscored that industrialization and economic growth, consumerism, increased population growth, lack of environmental regulation are all causes of unsustainable environmental practices.
Pointing to some of the effects of all these practices, Rev. Prof. Eshun spotted global warming as one key effect and others including ozone depletion, coastal sea level rise, severe storm, emission of greenhouse gases among others.
“Forecast from the Inter-governmental Panel of Climate Change, IPCC, predict that in this century, the temperature will increase from 1.5 to 5 degrees which is very serious and human activity is responsible for global warming,” he said.
Looking at the way forward, he gave insight into various concepts, initiatives and targets that has been proposed including Sustainability, corporate social responsibility, Green economy, low carbon or zero carbon economy and circular economy.
Prof. Eshun also shared-light on National target to ensuring environmental sustainability.
“Ghana has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 64 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030, as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris agreement. Ghana aims to increase its forest cover from the current 1.2 million hectares to 2 million hectares by 2030.
Ghana targets 10% renewable energy generation by 2030, with over 900 MW in solar, wind and hydro additions.” he stated.
Presenting on some of his case studies, Rev. Prof. Eshun called for a stop to the cutting down of trees, stating that the world loses around 13 million hectares of forest annually, resulting in significant carbon dioxide emissions.
Raising concerns to the devastation being caused by illegal small scale mining, also known as galamsey, to the environment, he attributed the deforestation to galamsey activities, illegal chain saw activities among others.
In his recommendations, Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun, called for environmental sustainability through transition to renewable energy, adopting sustainable practices in agriculture, forestry and fishing, implementing effective waste management, embracing personal and collective responsibility among others.
Speaking in his capacity as the chairman for the inaugural lecture, Prof. Philip Ebow Bondzi-Simpson, a professor of Law, while commending Rev. Prof. Eshun for his dedication to hard work and achievements, justified the essence of inaugural lectures.
“Inaugural lectures project the institution of itself as an institution of learning, as an institution where research is undertaken. It is also to project the speaker. What has the speaker done in the course of his or her academic life to merit consideration for appointment or promotion to the rank of professor and finally the last reason is that what are we also learning?” he explained.
The colourful second inaugural lecture of TTU was attended by academicians, family and friends, old students, traditional and religious leaders among others.
Rev. Prof. Eshun was presented with various citations from his department, the University, family and friends in recognition of his hard work.
He joined the then Takoradi Polytechnic as a Lecturer in 1999 and rose through the ranks to become Associate Professor in 2013, serving on almost all levels of the institution’s committees and leadership.
Rev. Prof. Eshun has published widely in high-ranking academic journals on various topics and has thirty-one (31) articles, fifteen (15) conference papers and one (1) book to his credit.
The event was also used to unveil bust of pioneering leaders of TTU.
