Wacam unhappy with excessive application of weedicides and pesticides

By Dennis Peprah/Fawzia Seidu, GNA

Sunyani, Dec. 5, GNA - Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam, a civil society organization, has expressed concern at the excessive application of pesticides and weedicides causing extensive destruction to the environment.

She said uncontrolled use of weedicides and pesticides would not only cause food poison, but destroy the biodiversity and threaten human existence in the long term.

“These pesticides and weedicides are causing huge damage to our biodiversity and the nation must take decisive action to control the situation”, she said.

Speaking at a day’s media workshop, organized by Wacam at Abesim, near Sunyani, Mrs Owusu-Koranteng appealed to the media to intensify public education on the dangers of pesticides and weedicides.

The workshop was aimed at sensitizing the media on the local content and local participation regulation in the extractive sector.

Mrs Owusu-Koranteng expressed regret that operations of mining companies in the country have destroyed the environment and the uncontrolled application of weedicides and pesticides to clear weeds and pest control too, was worsening the situation.

She said most of the country’s forest and natural resources are depleted, while water bodies were also fast drying up due to mining activities.

Mrs Owusu-Koranteng said huge tasks and responsibilities have been placed on the media to help protect the environment as well as the rights and socio-economic livelihoods of people affected by mining.

As the voice for the voiceless, she said, the media would do society a great harm if practitioners sat unconcerned and allowed mining companies to cause extensive destruction to nature.

Dr Emmanuel Yamoah Tenkorang, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cape Coast, told the Ghana News Agency it was harmful to use weedicides and pesticides.

He said bees played integral role in conserving biodiversity but the use of pesticides equally killed such valuable specie.

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