Parliamentary Committee on Environment to champion biodiversity conservation

Three members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment Science and Technology participating in the on-going COP 11 of CBD on Friday said the conference had exposed them to many environmental issues which would help them champion biodiversity conservation.

The MPs said the meetings they attended had strengthened them to play their role in other to ensure that the country preserves its biodiversity resource.

The MP’s are part of the government delegation led by the Minister of Environment Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Aittey, to the COP 11 of CBD to learn and share experience with other participants on Biodiversity.

They are Mr. Raymond Tawiah, Member of Parliamentary for Yilo Krobo and Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, Mr. Abdul-Rahman, the Member of Parliament for Pru, Mr. Justice Joe Appiah, the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North and Ms Abigail Aba Anso, a Clerk of Parliament.

The MPs expressed their readiness to share the knowledge acquired with their colleague MPs to enable them to deliberate on issues relating to biodiversity conservation and other environmental issues in Parliament.

Mr. Tawiah told the GNA that resource mobilization was crucial to help developing countries to protect its biodiversity.

“They exploit our forests for timber, gold and diamond to develop their countries and even sell some of the end products to us at a higher cost. We need that money to solve our environmental issues,” he said.

Mr Tawiah said mining companies destroying valuable biodiversity resource only pay a token as royalties and taxes and called for a ban on mining and felling of timber.

He said the country could survive and better manage its affairs without the contribution of these companies.

Mr Appiah said he wondered why humanity continued to degrade the forest despite the many benefits people derive from it.

Mr Appiah said the current deforestation, pollution of rivers bodies, hunting with chemicals, indiscriminate bush burning and illegal mining, if not checked, could turn the nation’s land to desert.

Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chairman of the Biodiversity Committee of Ghana, said it pays to join the global campaign of biodiversity conservation. He said people should see the protection and preservation of natural resource as a way of life and not something optional.

Prof. Oteng-Yeboah said one of the novelty mechanisms of reducing poverty was biodiversity, adding that communities would have enough fertile land and ensure food security as well as potable water. “This is the economic value that should be emphasized. Biodiversity is valuable and cannot be bought by money and people must know this fact…its depletion will lead to extinction of humanity”, he said.