Ghana is making conscious efforts to promote forestation programmes as the country’s contribution to check global warming, Mr. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment said in Accra on Wednesday.

The Minister, in a speech read on his behalf at a workshop on ECOWAS Policy on Environment, said Ghana was protecting the environment because global warming could affect its marine resources.

The workshop brought together stakeholders on the environment to brainstorm on how to build on the policy in order to pool resources in the sub-region to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Mr Adjei-Darko said environmental issues had no frontiers, hence the need for a common policy to harmonise and co-ordinate national environment policies in the sub-region.

He observed that government had put in place some initiatives to promote environmental sustainability such as the formulation of a comprehensive Forest and Wildlife Policy aimed at conserving the country's forest and wildlife resources.

"Fortunately, natural resources conservation seems to be the focus of the ECOWAS Policy document. There is therefore a perfect synchrony between this section for the document and the current Ghana Environmental policy," he said.

Mr Adjei-Darko, however, noted that the document did not give enough attention to waste management, which was the most challenging environmental problem in Africa and called on the participants to rectify the shortfall.

Mr Jonathan Allotey, Executive Director Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), called on the participants to come out with a decision that would focus on and give direction to environmental issues in West Africa.


Source: GNA