Lessons from COP28 must help curb disturbing environmental degradation – Rev. Sarpong

 Reverend Nana Dwo­moh Sarpong, a seasoned environmentalist, has charged Ghanaians to collectively and seriously take lessons from the international climate change summit (COP28) recently held in Dubai to implement its outcomes to curb the disturbing menace of environmental degradation to address climate change.

The number of times Ghana has participated in COP meetings and the size of delegations, he observed, did not matter much but stressed that “what is more important is what we do with the outcomes of the meetings.”

“Isn’t it regrettable that Ghana’s participation in previous COP meetings has so far failed to achieve positive results because we continue to engage in the same negative environmental practices and yet expect different results?” the environmentalist asked.

In a new year message, Rev. Dwomoh Sarpong, Founder cum President of Friends of Rivers and Water Bodies (FRWB), an environmental non-governmen­tal organisation supported the notion of COP28 providing a pivotal moment in acknowledging Africa’s distinct climate challenges and ushering in transformative commitments to address them.

He however noted that Ghana, like other African countries, had largely failed to make any remarkable progress in addressing climate change largely due to their inability to adopt and vigorous­ly pursue sound environmental protection measures.

In Ghana, the environmentalist stated “we are all to blame. While the government and its officials continue to gleefully issue permits and licences for gold mining in forest reserves, politicians, busi­nessmen, chiefs, opinion leaders and other influential people are also, on the other hand, all having a bite of illegal mining (galamsey) cherry completely mindless of the consequences of land degradation and pollution of water bodies.”

“No wonder, we are currently faced with the grotesque spectacle of our degraded lands producing contaminated food crops and our rivers no more hospitable to aquatic life, but more importantly unwholesome for human con­sumption due to heavy pollution, all on the altar of galamsey and we just appear clueless, indeed helpless in halting the canker?”, he queried.

The best way forward, Rever­end Dwomoh Sarpong submitted, is for the government to show a serious and unwavering commit­ment to the fight against galamsey, wanton forest destruction, indis­criminate waste disposal, envi­ronmental pollution in addition to promoting a sustainable tree planting plan.

Secondly, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) should, without fear or favour, rigidly enforce their environmental by laws to check unauthorised development and encroachment on rivers, streams and nature reserves in their areas.

Again, chiefs, as custodians of lands, must prioritise the collective welfare of their people and soci­ety over their personal interests by refraining from the indiscriminate sale of lands particularly flood-prone areas, nature reserves and reserved spaces for development purposes.

He held the view that “If all of us play our roles well, as expected of us, the problem of environ­mental degradation would be reduced to the barest minimum in no time and climate change becomes less burdensome,” Rev. Dwomoh Sarpong pondered

 BY TIMES REPORTER

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