BENYIWA-DOE CALLS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (PAGE 23, SEPT 26)

THE Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe has added her voice to the call for responsible behaviour towards the environment.
She stressed the need to eschew indiscriminate bush burning, irresponsible felling of trees, deforestation, illegal sand wining and other practices which affect the environment.
She said climatic change which was the result of bad environmental practices, threatened the very basic elements of life such as water supply, crop yield and food supply, human health and land use, among others.
These were contained in a speech read on behalf of the regional minister at the world environment day celebration at Assin Jakai in the Assin South District.
Mrs Benyiwa-Doe said in some parts of Africa, climate change was a contributory factor to increasing poverty of the people, and that coupled with the gradual irreversible degradation of the ecosystem, was the result of the migration of population from the affected areas.
She reminded the people of the essence of trees in helping to check climatic change and asked them to plant and nurture trees to reverse the trend.
The Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Zakari Alhasan said the effect of climate change manifested itself in variability in climate conditions such as rising temperatures and very low temperatures around the globe, erratic rainfall in some areas as well as heavy rainfall patterns in other parts.
He called on the district assemblies and school authorities to join hands in planting and nurturing trees to save the environment.
In an address read on behalf of the District Chief Executive for Assin South, Mrs Sabina Appiah-Kubi, she said apart from providing shade and serving as wind breaks in times of storms, trees also helped in purifying the air by taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen.
Ms Appiah-Kubi, therefore, called on the people to plant trees in their communities to avert any catastrophic consequences of climate change.
The Headmaster of the Jakai Junior High School, Mr Kobina Kwegyir-Aggrey called on the Forestry Services Division to provide teak tree seedlings for the school to cultivate.