{"id":16136,"date":"2022-02-24T14:50:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T14:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/uncategorized\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert"},"modified":"2022-02-24T15:07:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T15:07:01","slug":"natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert","title":{"rendered":"Natural Disaster: Let\u2019s protect Ramsar sites\u2014Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. <\/strong><\/span>Mr Dickson Yaw Agyeman, the Operations Manager at the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission has warned of looming natural disaster in Accra if encroachments of Ramsar sites are not halted and degraded areas restored.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of the five Ramsar sites is unique and plays a critical role in that ecology. Aside from providing ecosystem services, being a home to biodiversity, some serve as the \u2018shock absorbers\u2019 of their respective areas by absorbing flood water,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Ramsar sites are wetlands set aside for conservation because of their international importance according to set criteria and managed to provide maximum benefits to the local communities living within and around the area.<\/p>\n

There are five designated coastal wetlands in Ghana. They are Keta Lagoon Complex, Songhor, Sakumo, Densu Delta and Muni Lagoon. Mr Agyeman, told the Ghana News Agency that if the infrastructural development at Sakumono Ramsar Site for instance was not stopped, many homes and offices would wash away due to rain run-off from parts of Ashaiman.<\/p>\n

He said major among the threats to wetlands was political interference over the years in the work of the officials designated to protect the areas. Out of the five wetlands, he said the Sakumono Ramsar site was the only one that had been formally acquired by the State and compensation paid, due to its importance.<\/p>\n

He said, however, more than 75 per cent of the total area had been encroached. \u201cAny management measure you want to take is foiled by the political class. Some of the key politicians who should have helped the Commission protect the wetlands have compromised their positions. Because of that the law is there but it cannot bite,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a country, we decided to forget about the wetlands by giving it out for development and suffer the consequences. Remember it is the vulnerable in society who will suffer the most. There will be so much to lose if the right steps are not taken,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Agyeman said sometimes, officers were afraid to discharge their duties due to threats, adding that, \u201cWetlands serve everyone so its protection must be the concern of all, not only Wildlife Division.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that one other challenge in managing wetlands was the massive pollution of the area through waste disposal and channeling of waste water to the sites.<\/p>\n

He said though the Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary\u202fRamsar Site\u202fin the Ashanti Region was supplying potable water to\u202fresidents in\u202fthe Kumasi metropolis, the site was under severe pressure from growing human settlements,\u202fintensive farming\u202fand pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a country, we should have increased the number of wetlands from six to 15. This will have earned the country so much money through carbon credit, reduce high levels of pollution, create jobs, boost local fishing economy, address rural and urban migration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Agyeman noted that the carbon sequestration, a method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change could earn the country billions of dollars and it might not need to borrow from outside. He said the Wildlife Division had commenced a campaign to plant more mangrove in a bid to restore some of the areas that had been degraded.<\/p>\n

About\u202f75\u202fper cent\u202fof\u202fthe earth’s land areas are degraded; wetlands have been hit hardest, with 87\u202fper cent\u202flost globally in the last 300 years \u2013\u202faccording to\u202fAssessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.<\/p>\n

Lands that have either become deserts, are polluted, or have been deforested and converted to agricultural production are also the main causes of species extinctions.<\/p>\n

If the trend continues, 95 percent of the earth\u2019s land areas could become degraded by 2050. That would potentially force hundreds of millions of people to migrate as food production would collapse in many places, the report said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ghana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ghana. Mr Dickson Yaw Agyeman, the Operations Manager at the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission has warned of looming natural disaster in Accra if encroachments of Ramsar sites are not halted and degraded areas restored. \u201cEach of the five Ramsar sites is unique and plays a critical role in that ecology. Aside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[5092,5096,429,7575,7576],"class_list":["post-16136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-ghana","tag-ghana","tag-natural","tag-sites-expert"],"yoast_head":"\nNatural Disaster: Let\u2019s protect Ramsar sites\u2014Expert - Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mr Dickson Yaw Agyeman, the Operations Manager at the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission has warned of looming ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Natural Disaster: Let\u2019s protect Ramsar sites\u2014Expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mr Dickson Yaw Agyeman, the Operations Manager at the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission has warned of looming ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-24T14:50:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-24T15:07:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/02\/img-62179efeadf83.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Natural Disaster: Let\u2019s protect Ramsar sites\u2014Expert\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-24T14:50:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-24T15:07:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\"},\"wordCount\":657,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ghana\/sites\/18\/2022\/02\/img-62179efeadf83.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Ghana\",\"ghana\",\"Natural\",\"sites\u2014Expert\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ghana\/all-news\/natural-disaster-lets-protect-ramsar-sites-expert\",\"name\":\"Natural Disaster: Let\u2019s protect Ramsar sites\u2014Expert - 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