The Chief Executive Officer of Save Our Waters, Mr Patrick Oppong, has taken a swipe at metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies for their laxity in the enforcement of bylaws on sanitation and environment. This development, he said, had resulted in a situation where the country's eco-system and biodiversity were being degraded at an alarming rate. Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Mr Oppong expressed regret that in the 1900 the nation's overall forest cover stood at 8.2 million hectares but has dwindled to 800,000 hectares due to "our negligence in the handling of environmental issues." He appealed to assemblies to embark on a serious and sustained campaign against illegal tree felling, negative farming practices and the haphazard dumping of refuse. Mr Oppong said the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had listed Ghana among countries that were likely to experience water shortage of about 1,700 cubic metres annually by 2025 should be a matter of concern to all. He appealed to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to commit resources to sensitising people who live within the catchments of dams to avoid farming along rivers. Source: GNA