in Eastern Region introduced to new environmental management tools

Koforidua, Nov. 15, GNA- A one-day seminar to introduce political leaders and technocrats in the Civil Service in the Eastern Region to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) tools ended in Koforidua on Wednesday.

The programme, which was organized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was attended by District Chief Executives, District Co-ordinating Directors and District Planning Officers from all the 17 districts in the region.

Opening the seminar, the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Ofosu Asamoah observed that, the country was developing at a fast pace and it was the responsibility of all to ensure that the development of the country was not achieved at the expense of the environment. He said records available indicated that, in the 1990s, the environmental cost of the development of the country was four per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. This was at the time when the economy of the country was growing at the rate of six per cent of the GDP and therefore called for environmental issues to be given prominence in the designing and implementation of National Development agenda.

Mr Asamoah therefore called on the participants to support the SEA process and commit themselves and their institutions to the implementation of the recommendations of the seminar. He said that was to ensure that the country grow and develop without impacting negatively on the environment. Ms Christine Asare of the EPA said the participants were being introduced to how the SEA could be used in development planning to enable the country to achieve sustainable growth and to reduce poverty. She said the EPA was to develop a SEA system which could be used by all state institutions at national, regional and district levels. Ms. Asare said under the project, efforts would be made to build the capacity of large number of people who could help sustained the implementation of the SEA as one of the main agents of development planning in the country at all levels.

She said pilot districts would be selected for the system to be implemented there and the effect would be replicated at other places, adding that currently, the agency was working with 25 selected districts across the country which had energy as a problem. Ms. Asare said there would be pilot mobile planning teams that would go round to help district assemblies in the implementation of the SEA in their development plan.

Earlier, the Eastern Regional Director of the EPA, Mr Kwesi Owusu-Sekyere said the SEA could be applied to plans, policies and programmes of the District Assemblies and even to the socio-cultural, economic and natural resource needs of communities. 15 Nov. 07