Protecting our biodiversity is crucial

Last week, Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) renewed their commitment to collectively work towards protecting and preserving biodiversity.

At the Nature Action – a private sector mobilisation event, held at the Lancaster House in London in the UK on Friday, February 17, the two countries resolved to work hand in glove to deliver the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

The Kunming-Montreal GBF is a landmark international agreement that was adopted by the 15th session of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15.2) held in Montreal, Canada.

The framework seeks to mobilise urgent and transformative action by governments, together with all stakeholders in society, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

At the event, the British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Therese Coffee, and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, expressed worry that despite its importance to human well-being and a healthy planet, the world’s biodiversity was deteriorating at unprecedented rates, posing a serious threat to lives.

In particular,  Mr Jinapor said the government of Ghana was fully committed to biodiversity protection and preservation because it provided humanity with many benefits, including food, medicine, energy, clean air and water; security from natural disasters as well as recreation and cultural inspiration.

The Daily Graphic is happy with the commitment made by the two countries to prioritise biodiversity protection and preservation.

We consider the simple definition of biodiversity - all the variety of life, whether plants, animals, fungi or micro-organisms, as well as the eco-systems they form and the habitats in which they live as crucial enough to merit human attention.

The basic fact is that biodiversity is essential for human health and well-being, economic prosperity, food safety and security, and other areas critical to all human societies.

Aside from this, organisms, ecosystems and ecological processes provide human beings with oxygen and clean water.

The Daily Graphic finds the discourse on biodiversity preservation extremely important because it is declining at a faster rate and putting future generations at risk.
Plants and herbs are man’s friends, but unfortunately we have not taken good care of them.

With the current situation, it is time to re-examine our behaviour and actions towards the country’s natural resources and come to the realisation that technological advancements without the corresponding respect to preserve, protect and promote biodiversity could not address the country’s survival needs comprehensively.

People’s quest to survive has affected the consideration to preserve nature, and that is impacting negatively on natural resources which can spell doom for the future.

The increase in natural disasters such as flooding, desertification, landslides, earthquakes, siltation, among others, is a clear example of the breakdown in man’s appreciation of biodiversity.

We must preserve the country’s national biodiversity resources such as wetlands, water bodies, forests, coastal areas and national parks as therein lie the solutions to the myriad of environmental, social and economic challenges facing us as a nation and a people.

This situation has been aggravated by the observation by scientists that climate change is happening too fast for species to adapt and survive.

It is in line with this that the Daily Graphic commends the government for interventions aimed at restoring degraded lands and forests.

The Green Ghana project and the national land reclamation programme rolled out be the government need to be sustained as they would help to preserve biodiversity and contribute to addressing the climate crisis.

Given that biodiversity is essential to increase the resilience of communities and reduce their vulnerability in the face of shocks such as climate change and natural disasters, it is important to address conditions that trigger its loss.

It is therefore necessary for people to adopt a positive change in both attitude and behaviour to help preserve, protect and promote natural resources for the benefit of life today and for future generations.

Let us be reminded that our actions and inaction towards our natural resources and environment today may amount to digging our own graves ahead.

It, therefore, behoves us to take the requisite steps and change our attitudes and behaviour to preserve, protect and promote our natural resources for the benefit of life for the present and future generations.