Plastic Punch, a non-governmental organisation on pollution, in collaboration with the Ghana National Cleaner Production Center under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has engaged stakeholders in Ada to prevent marine litter in the Gulf of Guinea.
The project, dubbed ‘Prevention of Marine Litter in the Gulf of Guinea’ (PROTEGO), aimed to identify the root cause of pollution in the sea and find solutions to the problem.
Mrs Letitia Abra-Kom Nyaaba, Acting Director, Ghana National Cleaner Production Center, EPA, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the project’s focus was to prevent litter from land-based activities into the marine ecosystem, noting that it had become a normal thing for fishers to catch debris of rubbish rather than fish when they went to sea.
She said, “We looked for hotspots or areas where urgent action needs to be taken to make a difference; we are looking at awareness creation, policy implementation, and solutions grown from the communities to solve the problems. We are looking at preventing litter from entering the sea in the first place before considering other solutions.”
According to her, a survey conducted by her outfit revealed that Ada was part of the two hotspots as Ada had economic activities such as farming, fishing, salt harvesting, and a lot of hospitality and tourism facilities.
She added that Ada also hosted the Songhor biosphere reserve, which was a ground for turtles, migratory birds, and a habitat for other species.
Mrs Nyaaba noted that Plastic Punch, in partnership with the Ghana National Cleaner Production Center was embarking on the project with funding from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection, Germany.
Mr Richmond Kennedy Quaicoo, Country Director of Plastic Punch and in-country manager for the PROTEGO project, said the NGO used citizen science to inspire behavioural change, raising awareness on the dangers of polluting the environments for humans as well as the triple planetary crises, which include biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution.
He said they were in the Ada East District to engage stakeholders on marine pollution to identify sources of the pollutants and actors to work with and find solutions to be deployed to tackle the issue.
He disclosed further that the project would identify waste streams and establish stakeholder coordination structure, develop hotspot methodology for on-site sampling and monitoring, collect baseline data (shoreline surveys, waste characterisation studies, stakeholder interviews, and citizen data), identify hotspots and major leakage points using material flow analyses and other methods, in addition to short-listing pilot demonstration sites, and train local authorities and key stakeholders on monitoring and assessment.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke with GNA expressed satisfaction over the engagement and described it as a long-awaited intervention.
Mr Ebenezer Nartey, Assembly Member for Ada Foah Zongo electoral area who doubles as a board member of the Tourism Association in Ada, appealed to the people of Ada to cooperate with the Plastic Punch and the EPA to embark on the project.
Madam Betty Sackey, Coordinator, Ayongo Foundation, noted that Ada could become the Dubai of Ghana due to its attractiveness with the biosphere reserves and hospitality industry, but filth and pollution were hindering the development of the area.
GNA
LS/KOA
Caption: TM081 Marine Litter Pic 1
