Cheaper LPG to discourage tree felling - EPA

A Senior Programme Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency at Ho, Mr Shine Fiagome, on Wednesday appealed to government to make Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) affordable to reduce the over reliance on charcoal and firewood.

He said an affordable LPG would help minimize tree felling for firewood and charcoal by especially rural dwellers as part of efforts to curtail forest depletion.

He said the country would also have to explore alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, biogas and energy-efficient stoves to reduce pressure on fossil fuel to save the environment.

Mr Fiagome was speaking at a short ceremony to mark World Environment Day and Day to Combat Drought and Desertification at Kpetoe in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.

It was organized by the EPA in collaboration with ADICODE, an environmental non-governmental organization based in the district.

Mr Fiagome said concerted efforts were needed to address developmental challenges such as climate change and desertification if the Millennium Development Goals should be achieved.

He said this would require the strengthening of institutions responsible for prevention and management of natural disasters such as the National Disaster Management Organization the Meteorological Agency.

Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister, said in a speech read on his behalf that change is widening existing disparities between the rich and the poor.

“It increases the potential to create a new class of displaced people known collectively as environmental refuges such as people displaced by the recent floods in northern Ghana,” he said.

He said a renewable energy law would be enacted by Parliament by the end of this year and expressed the hope that it would give legal backing to renewable production systems.

Mr Titus Amedume, Deputy Executive Director of ADICODE, said it envisages to plant 114 million trees throughout the Adaklu-Anyigbe District within 10 years.

“This means we need people, funds, land and commitment on a huge scale”, he said.

Hundreds of schoolchildren were given tree seedlings to plant and nurture to maturity.