‘Find new ways of dealing with environmental degradation’

Metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and agencies have to begin to find new ways of dealing with environmental degradation, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Djanmah Vanderpuye, has suggested.

He further appealed to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to also collaborate in tackling the menace of environmental degradation in the Greater Accra Region.

He said this at  a workshop on the theme “Christian Action on Environmental Degradation” held at the offices of the Ga Presbytery in Accra last Wednesday.

Nii Vanderpuye urged the police and the Judiciary to co-operate with NADMO, the GNFS and MMDAs to investigate and prosecute those who broke the laws with impunity.

“Environmental degradation has been caused by our own omission and commission, such as vandalism, willful setting of fire to the bush, carelessness, hunting of animals, setting of bushfires with the believe that they stimulate the fruiting and germination of economic trees” he said.

He stressed that no poverty alleviation programme could succeed without vigorously addressing environmental issues.

He entreated Ghanaians to approach issues relating to the environment with the right character and commitment to protect the planet and save humanity.

The President of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Rev J.O.Y Mante, urged Christians to have the mindset of  sustaining the environment and reminded them as Christians to set good examples in the country to help maintain the natural resources since they were the caretakers of the land.

“Think of how Christ would use the land and its environments and use it the same way” he said.

He noted that electronic and nuclear wastes, creating clean renewable energy, inland water degradation were some major environmental issues in the country and the world at large.

He urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put in more effort to  protect the environment and its natural resources to promote economic growth.

Story: Mary Ampeh