Africa charged to halt environmental crisis
Members of the African Network of Biosphere Reserves (AFRIMAB) have gathered in Accra to brainstorm on the deepening environmental crisis in the continent.
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The delegates from 38 African countries are to find ways to improve Africa’s economy through sustainable environmental practices, during the four-day conference.
Among others, the conference, the third since its inception in 1998, is expected to come out with a training and skills development programme on biodiversity for African countries.
The increasing loss of biodiversity, particularly in Africa, is attributed to development activities and land degradation, particularly, overgrazing and deforestation, as well as pollution, hunting, infrastructure development and the overuse of fresh water.
Speaking on the theme, “The Role of Ecosystem Services in Boosting Green Economies in Biosphere Reserves”, the Chairman of AFRIMAB, Dr Paul Makenzi, told the participants that the time for Africa to act was now.
“The current generation has the advantage of being the first in history to have the information, resources and motivation to do something to solve our environmental crisis...,” he stressed.
Greed
Dr Makenzi said the world had enough natural resources to satisfy the needs of its population but not for their greed. “Indeed, Africa has more than enough natural resources for its need but not for the greed of the developed world,” he added.
He noted that one challenge facing Africa in particular was that in many cases, national boundaries, which were drawn during the colonial era, were not natural boundaries, either for people or for animals and ecosystems.
“This reality points to the need for countries to co-operate to jointly manage ecosystems that straddle their borders, working closely with the local populations in all fronts,” he urged.
The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr Musheibu Mohammed-Alfa, who also addressed the session, said the current generation was consuming faster than the earth could produce, a situation, which made the discussion on biodiversity and sustainable environmental practices even more pressing.
Dr Mohammed-Alfa expressed regret that Africa, in spite of its rich biodiversity, was one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots, with a large number of species currently endangered or threatened of extinction.
Africa, he said, must rise to face the challenges worsened by climate change, to give hope to the future generation.
The origin of biodiversity is credited to UNESCO, having held the first biosphere conference in 1968.
High price to pay
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, expressed regret at the level of depletion of Ghana’s forest reserve.
A Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report indicated that Ghana lost an average of 125,400 hactres or 1.6 per cent per annum of her forest cover between 1990 and 2010.
“Posterity will not forgive us if we do not take serious actions towards reversing the situation,”Alhaji Fuseini stated.
By Naa Lamiley Bentil/Daily Graphic/Ghana
