Accra, March 2, GNA - Mr Frank Agyekum, Government Spokesman on Governance, on Friday urged Ghanaians to guard the environment in order to save the nation's future generation.'

"If we continue to destroy our environment in the manner in which we are doing now, how would it look like in the next 50 years from now?" he asked at the launch of the Africa Environment Day in Accra. March 3 each year has been set aside by the Africa Union as "African Environment Day", to be observed by all member states. The objective is to create greater awareness at all levels of society on the need to preserve and protect the environment and natural resources for posterity and for sustainable development. The day is being observed on Friday March 2 in Ghana because March 3 falls on a weekend.

Mr Agyekum said statistics relating to the depletion of forest cover, for instance, from 8.2 million hectares at the turn of the century to 0.836 million hectares as at 2000, was quite alarming. "We all have to work at preserving the environment because if others preserved it for us, we also have to preserve it for the next generation."

The theme for this year is "Ghana at 50 - What Environment?" Mr Kofi Poku-Adusei, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, said having made 50 years as a sovereign state, "we want to compare the state of the environment 50 years ago with the current situation".

"This will enable us to have a good picture of how the environment should be managed for the benefit of posterity."

Touching on water, Mr Poku-Adusei said initially water appeared to be abundant in Ghana, but technically, problems of erosion, sedimentation, population pressure, changes in land use pattern, climate variability and poor waste disposal had all resulted in the dwindling of the nation's fresh water resources.

He cited the example of the Volta Lake, which had reduced significantly, leading to the current disruption in hydropower generation.

In the area of biodiversity, the deputy minister said the country's rich biodiversity was under threat from both natural and human influences.

"According to the Red List of Threatened Species in the entire world, 13 mammals, 10 birds, four reptiles and 103 plant species are listed as under threat in Ghana."

Mr Poku-Adusei said one of the effective ways of dealing with the problems relating to the destruction of the environment was to mould the minds of the people through public education, because when premium and due respect are given to environmental management by individual citizens, there would be some hope for the future.

"At age 50, Ghana has attained maturity and the citizens should show maturity and improved attitudes towards our environment. There are laws, bylaws and regulations that we should abide by at this stage of re-awakening of environmental consciousness," he said. 02 March 07