By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, May 26, GNA-A Senior Research Scientist has suggested that Ghana could make progress in preventing and managing floods by combining both engineering infrastructure and nature-based solutions.
Dr Shalom D. Addo-Danso of the Forestry Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-FORIG) said preserving green spaces and planting suitable tree species in urban areas could help reduce flooding.
He said integrated spatial planning, which incorporated urban greening and tree planting into the planning of major cities such as Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi must be taken seriously.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, Dr Addo-Danso who is with the Forests and Climate Change Division of (CSIR-FORIG), called for enforcement of environmental sanitation by-laws and regulations that protected wetlands and riparian areas.
He was of the strong view that behavioral change, through awareness creation and education, especially by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) would engender clean environments and reduce the flood situations in Ghana.
The Scientist made a strong case for policymakers to maintain and increase blue and green spaces in the cities, as they offered cheaper options to manage disaster risks such as floods.
These nature-based options, according to him, were more environmentally friendly, and possessed numerous social, ecological, and economic benefits.
For instance, wetlands and trees could help reduce flood risk, cool the weather and at the same time enhance plant and animal diversity and also improve water quality, he explained.
Tree species including mango, coconut, pear, neem, weeping willow, brimstone, Milletia spp, flame could provide food and fruits for people, and the parts can be used for medicinal purposes.
Dr Addo-Danso mentioned that low-lying areas in rural and urban cities in Ghana were high flood-risk spots during the rainy season.
According to the 2020 World Bank Country Environmental Analysis Report, floods had affected close to four million people in Ghana in the last 40 years, causing damage to property and deaths.
The World Bank has estimated that the average cost of inland flooding alone was US$115 million annually, which is equivalent to 0.2 percent of Ghana’s 2017 Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Dr Addo-Danso said flooding was mostly caused by human activities such as rapid urbanisation, leading to the conversion of wetlands into construction, housing, and settlements which consequently reduced the infiltration capacity of natural drainage systems.
Poor solid waste management including the indiscriminate disposal of garbage, polythene bags, and sewerage, which made drainage channels choked up and reduced their discharge capacities was also an area of concern.
He said they were disturbing developments that should be addressed by optimising the restoration of natural or human-modified ecosystems like wetlands or floodplains to manage runoff and floodwater.
GNA
Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba