DON'T RECLAIM WETLAND FOR PROJECTS (PAGE 30, OCT 30)

THE Friends of the Nation, (FoN),a non-governmental organisation (NGO), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have warned the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) not to reclaim any urban wetland in the metropolis for development.
The two institutions expressed shocked after the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Kobina Prah-Annan, had told Assembly members that he would reclaim wetlands for development by companies.
Mr Prah-Annan said he did not understand why people were looking for land to develop and the wetlands lay wasted.
The Regional Director of the EPA, Mrs Irene Heathcote, said apart from the environmental implications of the intended action of the metropolitan chief executive, the metropolis was below sea level, so blocking wetlands could cause flooding in the metropolis.
Apart from serving as channels in the event of flood, she said, they also served as channels for recharging ground-water-reservoir, breeding grounds for ocean fish stock and avenues for carbon sink, where plants take up pollutants in the air.
She said it was important for the assembly to focus on other areas instead of touching the wetlands.
The regional director said wetlands should not be seen as waste lands but rather as constituting a very important factor of the existence of mankind, such that touching any of them in the metropolis or any other part of the country meant disaster.
A statement signed by the Executive Director of Friends of the Nation, Mr Donkris Mevuta, said the assembly got it wrong by turning its attention to wetlands, which are protected areas.
He said countries which realised the importance of wetlands but were not blessed with them were creating wetlands and regretted that we were trying to reclaim them for some development projects.
He said it was about time proper measures were put in place to ensure that the assembly did not hurt humanity in its moves to secure lands for investors.
The executive director said it was a fact that with the oil find in the region and the strategic position of the regional capital, demand for land would increase but wetlands should not be sacrificed.