The Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation says more than 30% of the country’s population lives within 100 metres away from the coast, which is frightening due to the dangers and threats that accompany them.
“The statistics have been staggering. The number is really frightening,” he admitted.
Mr. Mahama Ayariga was convinced that those who fell in the category of coastal dwellers were mostly the poor, who could not afford decent accommodation in residential areas, “as opposed to the rich who move to better and higher places,” he said.
The problem has compounded as a result of the lack of cooperation and integration on the part of institutions which have been charged with the responsibility to do so. The effect is that “when the sea rises about 1 metre, a lot of these people who live there suffer. It is, therefore, no gainsaying that the management of coastal areas is imperative,” he pointed out.
Mr. Ayariga, who was addressing participants at the opening of the Meeting of Experts on a Regional Protocol for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Abidjan Convention Region in Accra, maintained that there are enormous dangers that coastal people could be exposed to.
For him, “the coastal countries within the region are saddled with common threats like sea level rise, coastal erosion and loss of potential tourism value and depletion of living marine resources.”
He also hinted that the shores of the country were flooded with “the influx of massive floating mats of noxious seaweeds with very grave implications for the economic wellbeing of our people as well as our ecosystem.”
He suggested the introduction and adoption of an appropriate framework for the development of the country’s coasts. This way, a lot of people along the coast would have to relocate, coupled with an infusion of a more integrated and regional approach into the action plan.
“While we continue to phantom the most effective way to deal with this problem as nations, it is very clear this phenomenon is a global problem and can only be effectively addressed through the collective action of all,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of the Abidjan Convention, Mr. Abou Bamba, reminded participants that marine and coastal activities support various human activities such as transport, fishing and aquaculture, production of renewable energies, extraction of raw materials, yachting and tourism. When the coastal areas are not protected, their proceeds, which include, food security, livelihood and tourism are affected.
Mr. Bamba is of the view that when these threats are looked at carefully using integrated, cooperative and coordinated approaches, there would be a drastic decrease in poverty across the sub region, for example, adding that “Developing a regional protocol for the integration of our coastal and marine management efforts based on common regional standards and criteria” is crucial.
The Convention covers 22 countries bordering the Atlantic coast of West Africa from Mauritania to South Africa, and it addresses issues such as Pollution from ships, Pollution as a result of dumping; Pollution from land-based activities; pollution from exploration and exploitation of the seabed and coastal erosion.
It also identifies environmental management issues from which cooperative efforts are wetlands and lagoons. The primary objective of the panel of experts meeting is to discuss the main issues and establish guidelines in order to draft an additional Protocol to the Abidjan Convention on the Integrated Coastal Zone Management in West, central and Southern Africa.
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