Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday marked World Environment Day with a call for the strict implementation of laws on the environment to preserve it for posterity.

The MPs, who were contributing to a statement by the Member for Techiman North, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, said there was also the need for the Ministry of Environment science and Technology (MEST) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to be allocated adequate resource to carry out their mandates.

The theme chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for this year’s celebration was: ‘’Green Economy: Does it include you? ’’Ghana has, however, adopted, ‘’Greening our Economy for Sustainable Development-Get Involved’’, as its local theme.

Prof Ameyaw- Akumfi stated that all Ghanaians had to get involved in greening the environment, in view of the devastating toll that climate change had on mankind.

"It is time we did something about greenhouse gas emissions and the emission of carbon dioxide produced mainly by the burning of forest products and fossil fuels,’’ he said.

He explained that a shift to the green economy framework could provide Ghana and Africa with tremendous opportunities to benefit from Africa’s rich endowment in natural resources.

He congratulated Parliament on passing the Renewable Energy Act to assist the country in attaining a green economic status and called on the private sector to engreen buildings to create job opportunities for Ghanaians.

Contributing to the statement, the Member for New Juaben North, Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, urged Parliament to wake up to its responsibilities and not leave the issue of the environment in the hands of few non-governmental organisations.

"We need to be conscious of what is happening around us and take appropriate actions to arrest some of the practices killing the environment,’’ he said.

Mr Owusu-Agyeman said it was unfortunate that a number of water bodies in the country had dried up as a result f human activities and added that pollution of some water bodies had become a problem to the Ghana Water Company, which has to spend a lot of money for treatment of water for human consumption.

Mr Owusu-Agyeman renewed his call for the ban on the use of plastics warning that, ‘’until we ban the use of plastics, we will continue to face environmental problems.’’

A Deputy Minister of Energy and Member for Ellembelle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, called for support for the EPA and MEST to enable them to live up to their mandate.

He stated that the issue of climate change was real and called on the country to follow ‘’positive steps that had been adopted by other countries to avoid the consequences of the change.

Other MPs who contributed to the statements were Mr David Assumeng Tetteh (NDC, Shai-Osodoku) and Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah (NPP Takoradi)

Source: Daily Graphic

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