THE Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has called on the government and other stakeholders to strictly enforce environmental laws and regulations in order to preserve and protect the country’s fast-dwindling natural resources and water bodies from further destruction and pollution.
According to him, until such laws and regulations were respected, promoted and defended, greedy individuals, including chainsaw and galamsey operators, would continue to exploit “our resources at the expense of the masses today and posterity”.
He said if such illegal chainsaw operators, miners and chiefs were found promoting those activities and arrested and prosecuted without any fear or favour, it would deter others from flouting environmental laws and regulations in the country.
“How long can we, as a nation, continue to fold our arms and look on helplessly while chainsaw operators and illegal miners deplete and destroy our forests, rivers, lakes and farmlands with impunity?” the Okyenhene asked.
Speaking at the national launch of the World Environment Day at Osino in the Eastern Region on Saturday, the Okyenhene said “almost every water body in the nook and cranny of Ghana, including the Korle Lagoon, the Pra, Birim, Densu, Oti and Afram rivers, as well as forests, which are national assets, is being polluted and destroyed because we have failed miserably to enforce laws that are to protect and preserve them”.
The event, which was on the theme: “Many Species, One Ghana, One Future”, was used to plant several species of plants at Osino and its environs in the Fanteakwa District.
The Okyenhene stated that God, in His wisdom, had blessed the country with abundant natural resources such as forests, water bodies and rich farmlands that should enhance the living standards of the people and also make the country self-sufficient.
“However, the very natural resources that are to enable us to improve every area of our existence, from health, agriculture, water and medicinal needs, are now turning out to be a source of diseases for our innocent children, pregnant women and the general masses,” he stated.
Osagyefuo Ofori Panin blamed this unfortunate state of affairs on negligence on the part of the government, the security forces, the EPA and the Minerals Commission to strictly enforce the various laws and regulations that were to preserve and protect the country’s natural resources from incessant exploitation.
“When the gifts of nature are destroyed, the meaningful prolonged existence of mankind on earth is also cut short,” he added.
In his view, if the government and other stakeholders continued to pay no urgent attention to putting a stop to the activities of illegal miners and chainsaw operators, “I dare say that the consequences of abusing the laws of nature will see us pushing all our natural resources, plant and animal species to extinction”.
He indicated that in the wake of the massive destruction of the forests, farmlands and water bodies, it had always been “chiefs who are blamed for promoting the activities of illegal miners and chainsaw operators in their communities and not the government”.
“Unfortunately, the days when our chiefs were described as illiterates and did not have degrees in environmental science, Master of Science and PhDs but understood the importance of preservation to human survival and, therefore, controlled the activities of their people towards the environment have been taken away,” he said.
He used the occasion to challenge Ghanaians to change their attitudes towards their environment, adding that “together we can help preserve our water bodies and environment for our own meaningful existence on earth”.
For her part, the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayitey, identified threats to biodiversity in the country to include rapidly increasing trade in bush meat, agriculture, commercial logging, illegal activities by chainsaw operators and mining.
To confront those challenges, she said, the government, in partnership with non-governmental organisations and development agencies, had launched the Green Ghana project and re-launched the arbour day to instil in Ghanaians the habit of planting and nursing trees for both economic and aesthetic purposes to mitigate the effects of climate change and global warming.
For his part, the Deputy Country Director of the UNDP, Mr Shigeki, called on the government and other stakeholders to help preserve biodiversity in the country in order not to precipitate the extinction of various species of animals and plants.
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