Media charged to increase awareness on sound environmental sanitation

Kumasi, June 10, GNA - Prof. Daniel Ofori, Director of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), at Fumesua in Ashanti, has urged journalists to increase advocacy on the dangers of poor environmental sanitation and its huge toll on public health and funds.

He said the government spent $290 million, equivalent to 1.6 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on sanitation-related diseases, citing current available reports commissioned by the Water and Sanitation Programme.

Prof. Ofori said journalists could impact the necessary change by educating the people on the serious state of the environment and the negative outcomes of poor environmental practices, some of which are deadly disease infections, such as Diarrhea, Cholera and Bilhazia among others.

The FORIG Director made the call at the maiden Ashanti Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards Ceremony in Kumasi, held under the theme "the Media's Mandate in Fostering Sustainable Environmental Sanitation.

Twenty-one journalists from 11 media organizations as well as six veteran journalists in the region were honoured.

Prof. Ofori, who was the guest speaker for the occasion, underlined the need for environmental journalists to travel round and perform more of ‘a local hunt’ for information to make significant impact on society.

“Journalists are expected to use the power of the media to bring about changes to improve the quality of air, water, wildlife and natural resources.

I am aware that already some of you are professional environmental journalists who write investigative pieces exposing illegal activities, unethical practices or emerging environmental problems", he observed.

He however called on media practitioners to strengthen their capacities to cover environmental news and issues, support investigations and create innovative ways to gather information, present data and engage the public.

Although he admitted that the media was already doing a good job, he stressed the need for journalists to write engaging human interest stories that describe the effects of environmental problems on specific people or communities.

"God created the earth and provided us with a natural environment with huge biological diversity and its associated balanced ecosystem functioning, that provides numerous ecosystem services", he noted.

However, Prof. Ofori said human settlements and activities impacted negatively on the environment and these translated into serious health issues requiring high medical costs for treatment.

GNA

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