Protect coastal and marine resources – Bartels

The Ministry of Information and National Orientation has initiated moves aimed at directing Ghanaians towards the protection of coastal and marine resources, the sector Minister, Mr. Kwamena Bartels has said.

He said the ministry was also sensitizing the people to the responsible preservation of the environment as a whole.

Mr. Bartels was speaking at a training workshop for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within the Guinea Curent Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) zone in Accra.

The five-day workshop, being orgainsed by the GCLME, will focus on the basic concepts of information, education and communication (IE&C) and on the sustainable financing mechanisms of NGO activities in coastal and marine areas.

Participants will, therefore, acquire the necessary qualifications, information and approaches for guiding the various actors in the coastal and marine areas of the GCLME towards integrated environmental and living resources management, as well as to ensure continuity in their activities through sustainable financing.

The expected outputs of the workshop are the setting up of a co-ordination task force of NGOs, the finalizing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the GCLME-NGOs partnership a better approach to mass communication issues and improved standardized procedures and formats for the functioning of NGO activities in the coastal areas.

The GCLME coastal area consists of 16 countries and stretches from Guinea Bissau to Angola.

Mr. Bartels said the degradation of the environment including the destruction marine life along the coast and other water bodies inland had become a source of concern to all who cared for the environment including the government.

“The destruction of the environment, as well as the pollution of the source of drinking water and fish habitats, is the result of adverse commercial activities carried out by people who seem, consciously or unconsciously, not to understand the dangers of such actions,” he said.