Eighth GCLME Regional Steering Committee meets in Accra

Accra, May 17, GNA - The steering Committee of the Interim Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystems (GCLME), began a two-day meeting in Accra on Tuesday, to deliberate on the next steps of implementing GCLME Strategic Action Programmes (SAP).

The SAP is a document that describes policy, legal and institutional reforms and investments that are needed, to attend to priority problems identified in the GCLME Regions of Trans-boundary Diagnostic Analysis.

The project is aimed at assisting states to collectively protect the Guinea Current Region's estimated number of 300 million people from environmental degradation, food insecurity and depletion of fishery stocks and from land based pollution.

It is also aimed at helping states to restore their coastal and marine habitats and the project is being assisted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Speaking at the opening session, Ghana's Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in a speech read on her behalf, stressed Ghana's continued commitment to support GCLME programmes to achieve the needed results.

She appealed to the partners to ensure that their deliberations yielded the needed fruits as those results would help protect the ecosystems in the sub-region.

Mr Stephen Donkor, Executive Director of Interim Guinea Current Commission (IGCC), expressed the hope that the meeting would be able to come out with the needed implementation of the Osu Declaration of 2010, which, among other things, agreed to work to protect the environment at all times.

He said IGCC was aware of the fundamental importance of the health of the GCLME, including coastal areas, and contiguous drainage basins to the well being of the coastal population, economies and food security of coastal states and socio-cultural life of the people.

Mr Christian Susan of UNIDO said it was important for all 16-member nations to take responsibility of developing their economies and should ensure that their ecosystems were well protected.

He said oil and gas issues posed a lot of risk in the ecosystem and advised participants to take a cue from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and protect their river banks from oil and gas pollution.

Mr George Kojo Scott, Chief Director of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, appealed to member countries to be concerned with eco programmes and be determined to seek the welfare of the people by implementing all decisions.

As a full Commission, the 16 IGCC member states would have formalized regional cooperation and be able to set up the governance structure to apply ecosystem-based management of their shared trans- boundary environmental interests.

Ecosystem-based management is an integrated approach to the management of the marine environment that considers the entire ecosystem, mankind included.

Its goal is to maintain a healthy and productive ecosystem that can provide the needed living natural resources and services humans require.

The Steering Committee meeting would also listen to a report on the development of Memoranda of Understanding between the IGCC and other agencies such as the Fisheries Commission for West and Central

Africa, the Sub-regional Fisheries Commissions, and the Regional

Fisheries Committee of the Gulf of Guinea. The meeting would also receive a report on the IGCC/GCLME's six

national and three regional ongoing demonstration projects. The IGCC/GCLME Steering Committee directs the activities of the GCLME.

Since the start of the GCLME project implementation in March 2005, the Committee has provided direction for project execution on behalf of the governments of all participating countries.

In addition to this meeting, the Tripartite Committee of United Nations Support agencies (UNIDO, UNEP and UNDP) would meet on the 19 and 20 May to finalize the SAP Implementation Project.

Up to 80 delegates from all GCLME project countries, United Nations cooperating agencies (UNEP, UNIDO, UNDP, FAO and IMO), non-governmental and community-based organizations, the private sector and other stakeholder communities are attending.

The GCLME stretches from Guinea-Bissau to Angola, a marine surface area around 350,000 square kilometres, and 2.6 million square kilometres for the total of exclusive economic zones.

The project aims to assist States, acting collectively, to protect the Guinea Current region's estimated 300 million people (half of whom live on the coast) from environmental degradation, food insecurity, depletion of fishery stocks and from land-based pollution.

It also aims to help States to restore their coastal and marine habitats. The project is assisted by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)/UNIDO/UNDP/UNEP/US-NOAA.

As a global resource, GCLME is among the most productive coastal and offshore waters in the world.

The region is home to vast fishery resources, precious minerals, as well as oil and gas reserves.

It also holds high potential for eco-tourism and is an important reservoir of globally significant marine biodiversity.

However, the GCLME's habitats and living resources are threatened by human activity, including overexploitation, pollution from land- and sea- based sources, and ecosystem alterations resulting in the degradation of coastal habitats through erosion.