Protecting Our Biodiversity is Crucial: Let Us Be More Committed

The Editorial of the Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Edition of the Daily Graphic was about the protection of biodiversity. It was captioned: “Protecting our biodiversity is crucial”. The piece highlighted the commitment of two countries: the United Kingdom (UK) and our beloved country Ghana to work to promote and preserve biodiversity. “At the Nature Action-a private sector mobilization event, held at the Lancaster House in London in the UK on Friday, February 17, the two countries resolved to work hand in glove to deliver the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)” it said.

It was indicated that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, “expressed worry that despite its importance to human well-being and a healthy planet, the world’s biodiversity was deteriorating at unprecedented rates, posing a serious threat to lives.” As a biological scientist, it is quite worrying to hear about some of the environmental issues developing around us. Understandably, development and modernization have affected the environment through habitat destruction and fragmentation. Through the ages, the construction of roads and other governmental projects have caused the loss of biodiversity to some extent. Though such cases are usually unavoidable, they have significantly caused the loss of biodiversity in the country. In addition, urbanization has driven the loss of biodiversity to such a level that, the abundance of some plant and animal species has been tremendously reduced, with some of them on the brink of extinction.

Whenever we talk about the protection and preservation of biological resources, some of the issues that come to mind include illegal mining, also known as ‘Galamsey’, illegal logging and illegal sand winning. Unfortunately, some of our beautiful rivers and their biodiversity have come under tremendous attack due to the activities of illegal miners. Excessively toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide that are released into the environment are known to pollute the environment and make it unhealthy for humans and animals.

On 21st September 2022, an online article published by businessghana.com highlighted a statement made by Dr. Seth Koranteng Agyakwa of the CSIR Water Research Institute about contaminated fish on the Ghanaian market. He is reported to have said “As for fishes, they are contaminated in those areas, and you need not hide about it. We can provide you with all the information about contaminants in fish. If they don’t stop it, they will continue to be there.” The danger is that we might not know where the fish we consume come from and chances are that, some of us have already been exposed to such contaminated fish. According to an article from the website of the Business and Financial Times (2018), the fisheries sector of Ghana has been suggested to employ about 10% of the country’s population and has a direct effect on employment mainly along the four coastal regions.

During my undergraduate research project work some years ago, I had the privilege to work in one fishing community to observe and assess whether the fishing practices used were conservation-friendly and environmentally friendly. To my amazement, many of the fishing methods that were used did not segregate between fingerlings and mature fish. One major observation I made was that indiscriminate fishing was going on and that small-sized and immature fish were caught and sold almost every day. In addition, the level of pollution in that estuarine ecosystem which doubles as a tourist site was overwhelming. I found that many of the fishing practices undertaken there were not compliant with the laws of artisanal fishing in Ghana. Unfortunately, when I visited the place recently, I found that things have remained virtually unchanged, and the environmental pollution has worsened.

On February 27, 2023, the Daily Graphic reported a story entitled “Cocoa industry under threat - illegal miners destroy rehabilitated farms.” It was stated by the Executive Director of Cocoa Health and Extension Services, Rev. Edwin Afari that about 36.5 hectares of rehabilitated cocoa farms had been destroyed by illegal miners. He also added that “On a larger scale, many forest areas where cocoa was grown had been taken over by illegal mining activities and that, apart from the rehabilitated farms, illegal miners were buying out huge tracts of land meant for cocoa farming for illegal mining. Even if you don’t sell your farm to them, they dig around it, preventing you from accessing the farm.” In the long run, the toxic chemicals used in illegal mining could negatively affect the quality of our cocoa beans. What future do we want to embrace, and leave for our children and grandchildren?

Again, according to National Geographic (2018), “In 2011, Ghana produced a record-setting amount of cocoa, weighing in at over one million tonnes. Since then, as illegal mining steadily ramped up, cocoa production has trended downwards, with a drop to 740,000 tonnes in 2015.” We know what cocoa has done for our parents and grandparents. I believe many of us have, in one way or the other, benefited from the proceeds of cocoa farming. Whenever I hear anything about cocoa and cocoa farming, I remember my grandparents who spent their lives toiling in the Western Region to support their family with the proceeds of their toils. Some of us benefited from the CMB Scholarship during our senior high school education thanks to our hardworking relatives who were cocoa farmers. Though the CMB Scholarship is no longer in existence, cocoa has too many economic benefits to be overlooked.

Furthermore, concerning the conservation of biodiversity, Maney et al. (2022) suggested that “Cocoa-based agroforestry systems are an intermediate-complexity system hosting biodiversity greater than that of open-land systems. In support of ongoing cocoa sustainability efforts, both types of agroforests can play a role in improving and maintaining biodiversity in cocoa landscapes” This means cocoa farming could be targeted to restore some of the depleted environmental resources of our country. Unfortunately, we have sacrificed some of the existing cocoa plantations we have, on the altar of ‘galamsey’.

Unfortunately, some of our forest resources have been depleted over the years, destroying the habitats of enormous numbers of plants and animals. Consequently, we have also lost a lot of ecosystem services that were tied to these plants and animals. Activities such as rampant bush burning for farming and hunting; deforestation due to timber, firewood and charcoal production; and now ‘galamsey’ activities, have caused environmental degradation of various forms ranging from water pollution to air pollution.

In addition, though pesticides, weedicides, fungicides and all the chemicals used in agriculture in recent times have been helpful, their negative impact on harming nontarget species is worrying. Most of these chemicals fail to differentiate between good and bad plants and animals. It seems the education of some farmers on effective use of these chemicals has not gone down very well and as a result, some of the chemicals have been abused over the years. Conversations with older folks will reveal the changes that have occurred in the composition of plant and animal communities in their farms since the introduction of inorganic chemicals. Mention is usually made of this or that helpful insect or herb that is no longer present in the environment.

Finally, in my view, the problem of biodiversity loss is so serious that stringent measures have to be put in place to address it. If not checked now, we are likely to face dire and irreversible environmental and economic consequences in the future. I am pleading with the stakeholders of the environmental, forestry and fisheries sectors, NGOs and CSOs, as well as traditional and religious authorities to intensify the education on protection of our environment and the conservation of biodiversity. I strongly believe that, if people become fully aware of the economic and health implications of some of the unhealthy environmental activities they undertake, we can restore what has been lost, through our collective efforts, and prevent further deterioration of the environment.

References

• ‘Galamsey’ activities stalling sustainable fishery efforts. Available online at https://thebftonline.com/2018/04/05/galamsey-activities-stalling-sustainable-fishery-efforts/ (Published: April 5, 2018). Date accessed: March 1, 2023.
• CSIR Water Research Institute calls for action against galamsey. https://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/270941/CSIR-Water-Research-Institute-calls-for-action-against-galamsey. Date Published: 21st September, 2022. Date retrieved: 1st March, 2023.
• Akomaning, Y. O., Hlaváčková, P., Darkwah, S. A., Živělová, I., & Sujová, A. (2021). Socioeconomic Impact of Mining in the Atiwa Forest Reserve of Ghana on Fringe Communities and the Achievement of SDGs: Analysis from the Residents’ Perspective. Forests, 12(10), 1395.
• Maney, C., Sassen, M., & Hill, S. L. (2022). Modelling biodiversity responses to land use in areas of cocoa cultivation. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 324, 107712.
• Cocoa industry under threat - illegal miners destroy rehabilitated farms. Available online at https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/cocoa-industry-under-threat-illegal-miners-destroy-rehabilitated-farms.html. Date published: 27th February, 2023. Date Retrieved: 1st March, 2023.