National Durbar Climaxes World Environment Day In Ghana

A national durbar is underway at Wenchi in the Brong- Ahafo Region to climax activities marking the celebration of this year's World Environment Day in Ghana, which fell yesterday.

The Day set aside by the United Nations is celebrated each year to draw worldwide attention to environment issues and to also focus the attention of policy makers and all citizens on the need to be conscious of the environment in all national developmental policy schemes and programmes. The day is under the theme: "Green Cities, Clean Environment".

Mr Abraham Odoom, Deputy Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency stressed the need for Ghanaians to keep their environment clean by not littering.

He said the walk and pick event held last Saturday as a curtain raiser to the celebration of the day was intended to sensitise the public about the need to dispose off plastics waste properly. "We need to be careful about the way we are littering plastics all over, because it has the potential to degrade the land," he said.

Mr Odoom said although the international focus was on deserts and desertification, "We are not losing sight of that, but rather we want to draw attention to the plastic waste and the menace it is causing to our land".

The global theme for this year's celebration is "Deserts and Desertification" with an accompanying slogan, "Don't Desert Dry Lands".

Mr Odoom said to stem the fast approach of the desert to Ghana; plans were far advanced for the use of Jathropha plants for reforestation programmes in the Northern part of Ghana. "In collaboration with Onua Amoah, we intend to cultivate over a million hectares of the plant for the dual purposes of reforestation and the production of diesel," he said.

Mr Oddom urged all to help to keep the environment clean so that all residents would enjoy healthy lives.