Accra, June 15, GNA – The Mayor of Accra, Madam Elizabeth Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, has urged Ghanaians to work collectively towards ending plastic pollution in the ocean.
She noted that dumping refuse into drains, indiscriminate dumping of waste in open spaces and littering, among others harmed aquatic species.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) said this during an event to commemorate this year’s World Environment Day under the global theme “Revitalisation; Collective Action for the Ocean.”
World Environment Day was declared by the United Nations, during the Stockholm Conference in 1972 to highlight and create public awareness and sensitisation on critical environmental challenges facing the planet.
The day reminds people across the globe about the harm being caused to the environment and what measures can be taken to reverse the damage.
The Mayor stressed the need for attitudinal change among Ghanaians, stressing that the plastic menace had become a major threat to the marine environment.
She urged stakeholders and the public to adhere to the Assembly’s sanitation byelaws, also stating that some 115 offenders had been prosecuted during the first quarter of this year for various sanitation offences.
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr Kwaku Afriyie, called for a public campaign to promote a positive attitude towards plastic management.
He said the ocean was important for Ghana’s food security.
The Minister attributed the current state of the ocean to the unregulated urban settlements and inappropriate waste management practices.
“Some interventions by the government to help revitalise the health of Ghana’s degraded marine ecosystems such as education on waste segregation and proper disposal of waste among others have been put in place,” he added.
This year’s ceremony brought together several stakeholders from both public and private sector, including representatives from security agencies.
There were fisherfolks from local fishing communities and pupils from some basic schools.
GNA