Neenyi Ghartey the Seventh, Paramount Chief of the Effutu Traditional Area, has emphasized the need for Ghanaians to desist from activities that endangered the environment.

“Let us as a people change our attitude and treat the environment with circumspection and dignity to enable us to live in it freely and peacefully devoid of sicknesses and disasters,” he said.

Neenyi Ghartey made the call at a durbar organized by USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP), to celebrate World Environment Day at Winneba.

It was on the sub-theme: “Our Mangroves, Our Fish, Consume with Care,” to draw the public's attention to the importance of environmental stewardship as a collective responsibility.

The platform was used to sensitize the public on the conservation and sustainable use of the nation’s pelagic fishery, to improve food security.

The Day was observed with a mangrove restoration exercise along the banks of Muni Lagoon Ramsar Site at Winneba, with the participation of staff of the Game and Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, Ghana Wildlife Society, and students from second-cycle institutions in the Greater Accra and Central Regions.

Dr Brain Crawford, Chief Party of USAID/Ghana SFMP, said there was the need for human beings to do something towards the positive impact of the environment.

He said the Day was a United Nations vehicle for encouraging worldwide awareness, and also draw attention to the fact that the well-being of humanity, the environment and the functioning of economy, ultimately depended upon the responsible management of the planet’s natural resources.

“Nonetheless, evidence is building that people are consuming far natural resources that the planet can sustainably provide,” he noted.

Dr Crawford said it was in this regard that the USAID/SFMP, a food security programme and their partners, joined the rest of the world to mark the Day to sensitize the general public on the need to change their attitude towards the environment.