Tema, June 9, GNA – The Coalition of NGOs in Tema, and the AbibiNsroma Foundation on Wednesday called on nations to do more to protect the ocean for it to continue to play life-sustaining roles to mankind.
“Counting on Agenda 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals to achieve No Poverty, Zero Hunger and Sustainable Consumption and Production, we can say the world needs to do a lot in order to achieve these,” the Foundation stated.
The foundation in a statement signed by Mr. Robert Amiteye, Coordinator of AbibiNsroma and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tema as part of the commemoration of United Nations World Ocean Day called on governments across the world, “to join the call for action to protect, restore and sustain the ocean ecosystem for present and future generations.”
The foundation commended Government for initiating a three-month freeze on fishing activities “to help restore the ocean ecosystem and its related economic attributes.”
The statement said light fishing, dumping of industrial wastes, poaching and invasion of territorial and exclusive economic zones by foreigners were a huge challenge posing gross risk to the ocean.
It said the world was seeing increasing plastic litter in the oceans and that was affecting livelihoods with plastic pollution killing fishes in the ocean and coral reefs.
“From fisher folks to fishmongers through to those who process fish and the chain of its wider economic dimension, a lot of livelihoods are facing the wrath of the ocean.
“This will decrease or lower economic activity of life, food and livelihoods. It certainly would cause increased prices and shall directly or indirectly link to hunger and poverty,” the statement stated.
The World Oceans Day is an annual celebration of the significance of the oceans which calls on everyone to be responsible in the use of the ocean and join in awareness creation in the fight to protect and make use of the ocean in a sustainable way.
The 2021 celebrations of World Ocean Day looked at “Lives and Livelihoods,” a theme which explores the subject of how human lives are related to the ocean in a bigger world ecosystem.
GNA