Attitudinal change needed to achieve aim of sustainable ocean plan – Prof. Addo

A Deputy Director of the SDG Advisory Unit at the Office of the President, Professor Kwesi Appeaning Addo, says the expectations of the Sustainable Ocean Plan can only be achieved with a new attitudinal change by the citizenry towards the environment, and not just through policing.

Speaking to Citi News during an EPA-organized training program in Takoradi on the environmental challenges faced by the coastal districts of the Western Region, Professor Appeaning Addo said the key to achieving the set targets for protecting the marine space and the coastal resources to the benefit of everyone will depend largely on a new sense of positive attitude towards the environment.

“I think it’s about time we realized that we need to have a change in the way we do things as a nation. A lot of people are very comfortable throwing away their waste in the gutters, and when it rains, what is in the gutters eventually ends up along the coast. So we need to have an attitudinal change.”

“So we all need to begin to appreciate that if we all tackle it from our own small way, we will be able to solve the problem. The business-as-usual way of doing things is not going to help us. Again, I also don’t believe in policing. That is, a police state where somebody needs to keep a whip on you to remind you to do the right thing,” he stated.

The Director of the University of Ghana’s Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies, Dr. Felix Adso Yobo, also speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the event, said it is high time Ghana learned from the best models of environmental management approach from its peers.

“Some countries have banned single-use plastics altogether. Rwanda and Kenya are trying to do that. Other countries are using a management approach where you improve the use, the collection, and then the recycling or disposal of waste plastic products. So Ghana belongs to that school of thought that let us explore the opportunities around effective management of plastics,” he noted.

A cross-section of participants, including fishermen, coastal community chiefs, CSOs, policy makers, and local assembly representatives from Shama District, Ahanta West Municipality, and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, also discussed a wide range of environmental management issues such as sargassum infestation, cetaceans-related issues, beach sand winning, mangrove degradation, and general pollution of coastal waters.

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