Government would not countenance the involvement of any individual, group of persons, security personnel or Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MDCE), who would connive with illegal miners to destroy the environment.

Dr Joe Oteng –Adjei, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, who issued the warning, said “we as leaders have taken oaths, and are entrusted with the huge responsibility to protect our environment and natural resources, but some of us for our selfish interest connive with some illegal miners to destroy the environment and pollute our water bodies with cyanides and mercury.

Those days are gone and we cannot sell our birth rights to people. You will be putting your jobs at risk in doing these negative activities”.

The minister was speaking at this year’s celebration of World Environment Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, held at Navrongo in the Upper East Region on Monday, on the theme: “Don’t let our future dry up”.

He said global statistics indicated that about 3.4 million people died each year from water borne diseases and when translated one person died in every 10 seconds in the world including Ghana. .

Dr Oteng-Adjei gave his mobile phone number to members of the public at the function so that they could report anybody who is found to be conniving with illegal miners to him for the necessary action.

He called on Ghanaians to harvest rain water to compliment government efforts at providing water for the public.

The minister said Ghana had signed the United Nations Conventions to combat Desertification, inaugurated the National Action Programme to Combat Draught and Desertification and the Sustainable Land and Water Management Programme (SLWM) and the Ghana Environmental Management Programme, GEMP to combat desertification and land degradation.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, condemned bad agricultural activities, particularly farming along river banks, streams and other water bodies and

“The results of these unsustainable practices have been the pollution, silting and drying up of all our fresh water resources. The red Volta which is a major tributary of the Volta basin has dried up completely and only flows for a few weeks during the peak of the rains in July and August.

“Rivers and streams within the Navrongo Municipality like the Naabuga and the Tindaabuga have dried up completely whilst Gaabuga has seen drastic reduction in volume of flow. All these have serious consequences for the Tono Dam as the three rivers all feed into the dam”.

The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Daniel Amlalo, asked Ghanaians to observe sound environmental practices to conserve fresh water resources and the environment.

Ms Loree Semeluk, official of the Canadian High Commission in Ghana, said that desertification had serious implications on food security and water supply and said that was why the Canadian government through GEMP and SLWM was supporting Ghana to prevent land degradation and desertification particularly in the Upper West, Northern and Upper East Regions.

The occasion was used to plant 1,000 trees along the Tono irrigation facility and the park where the event took place.