Cape Coast, Feb. 22, GNA- The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Omane Boamah, has encouraged students to pursue courses in Environmental Science because vast job opportunities exist in that field on the job market.

Dr. Boamah said this at a Summit on Climate Change for students from second and tertiary cycle institutions in the Central Region, at the weekend at the Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast. It was under the theme, "Gender Perspectives in Climate Change: The role of women and the youth in Ghana." He urged the students to serve as ambassadors and advocates for Environmental Protection by forming environmental clubs in their schools with the prime motivation of improving their knowledge on environmental issues.

Dr Boamah assured them of the sector Ministry's support in this effort. He said the environment would best be protected if people stopped the indiscriminate dumping of refuse, spitting and defecation, bush burning and the destruction of forest reserves.

Mrs. Angelina Mensah, a Senior Officer at the Environmental Protection Agency, said Climate Change affects everyone irrespective of their sex, age, health, financial or physical standing and urged people to learn to adopt safe practices to protect the environment.

She encouraged the students to advocate gender equality and gender responsive policies in their communities and also to help in the fight against HIV/ AIDS by abstaining from sex and to create awareness through education.

Mrs. Mensah advised the students to contribute positively to environmental protection by planting trees all around them. She reiterated calls for environmental cleanliness and the need to encourage good waste management such as recycling of waste materials, which according to her, would go a long way to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and help in poverty reduction. In an address read for her, the Central Regional Minister, Mrs. Ama Benyiwa- Doe, said though talents are universal, opportunities to develop them are not and urged the students to be studious and do away with negative tendencies and contribute their quota to achieving a better Ghana. The Assistant Headmaster of Mfantsipim School, Mr. John Aitpilla Akpo, who said the summit was timely, advised students to keep the environment neat through good sanitation practices and also share the knowledge acquired with friends.

The summit was organized by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, the Gender Development Institute, Ghana and the Ghana Education Service (GES).