New Measures Needed To Curb Marine Depletion

The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, has advocated  a more comprehensive approach to address the continued degradation of the coastal and marine environment.

She said because many interventions and other educational programmes to address the issue had failed, there was the need to come up with new and innovative approaches to mitigate the impact.

Ms Ayittey said this on Monday at the opening of a delegates meeting to discuss the Abidjan Convention which calls for co-operation in the protection and development of coastal and marine environment of the Western, Central and Southern Africa Region.

The  meeting is the final negotiation by technical and legal experts from these regions of Africa to finalise a draft bill for consideration by the parties

The contracting parties are enjoined by the provision of the Abidjan Convention to undertake preventive measures and to mitigate and control pollution from land based sources and activities on their territories.

The Minister said if the current trend of coastal and marine degradation continued  “it will lead to a likely depletion of the coastal and marine resources”.

She said such a development would pose a major threat to the ecosystems with devastating economic and social consequences to the country's exclusive economic zones in the sea.

“The depletion of our resources will also affect  the economic fortunes of the poor coastal communities, especially, women and children”, she said.

Ms Ayittey said the area which the convention protocol covered was one of the world's most productive marine areas which was rich in fishery resources and also served as an important reservoir of marine biological diversity.