Sustaining Ghana's economy requires environmental focus, says PAGE

An international civil society group, Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) is warning of an impending economic doom if the environment is not factored in developmental plans.

Ghana’s forest cover, for instance, has drastically reduced from 8.8 million hectares in the late 1990s to less than one million without appropriate afforestation practices.

This, according to experts, has contributed to the climate effects on agricultural production and other socio-economic activities.

“Our current development trend is not sustainable,” observed Samuel Dotse, National Programme Coordinator of PAGE. “Look at what has become of the forest sector; it clearly indicates that over the years our path of development does not respond to the definition of sustainable development”.

Stakeholders and civil society organizations have been discussing the need to transform the current Ghanaian economy from what they describe as “brown” into a green economy.

The green economy concept converts the waste in the society, making it useful and a resource for the good of the economy and future development.

It considers how human well-being can be improved, social equity attained and more importantly environmental risk sustainably reduced.

Interest groups deem this approach useful because according to them, the current developmental trend is a threat to the future.

Mr. Dotse has noted that the size of land does not change but its carrying capacity, hence “if our actions should give a cause for that carrying capacity to be damaged, then I think that the future generations will have nothing to rely on or use”.

PAGE and other civil society organizations on environment are worried the situation will persist unless Ghana’s economic development considers green economic practices.

They argue that sustaining economic development is the people’s right but this must be done in a manner that do not compromise the environment.