President John Dramani Mahama has emphasized the growing connection between climate change, environmental degradation and public health.
Speaking at the One Health Summit in Lyon, France, on April 7, 2026, the president stressed that the world is facing a surge of health threats that cross borders and affect humans, animals and plants alike. He argued that the environmental crises unfolding across the globe, from rising sea levels and melting glaciers to shrinking rainforests and expanding desert storms; are no longer separate from the discussion on health.
He stressed the environmental impact that Ghana was specifically facing with illegal gold mining and its impacts such as forest degradation and pollution of water bodies and threats to biodiversity. “At the foundation of all these crises is the phenomenon of climate change,” he said.
President Mahama pointed to Ghana as an example of how climate change and environmental destruction are affecting livelihoods and ecosystems. In cocoa-growing communities, a growing blight of diseases and pests is threatening smallholder farmers and millions of households that depend on cocoa production.
He stressed: “the drivers of today’s health threats from climate change and ecosystem degradation to species conflict and loss of natural barriers are reinforcing each other,” highlighting that climate change is intensifying other threats, including the outbreak of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance and disruptions to food systems.
“From the outbreak of infectious diseases to antimicrobial resistance and from climate-related disruptions to food systems, all these risks converge and intensify in frequency, complexity, and severity than at any time in human history,” he said.
He said Africa has long understood the relationship between human life and the environment, because many communities continue to live in lockstep with nature. In Ghana, he noted, “Still, more than 50% of our population rely on herbs and other natural forest resources for their medicines.”
He added that the ‘One Health’ approach which links the health of people, animals and the environment, is not just a theory for Africa, but a “practical matter.”
His remarks come at a time when scientists and policymakers are increasingly warning that climate change is no longer only an environmental issue, but one that threatens public health, food security and livelihoods.
Written by Nusrat Essah
