Accra, Nov. 1, GNA - Professor Emmanuel Owusu-Bennoah, Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Wednesday called on government to devote resources to the fight and management of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) that were decimating the biodiversity of the country.
He said the problem of the species such as water hyacinth has shown that areas where ever, 'Leucaena leucocephala and Tectona grandis have invaded, the species diversity has been reduced to less than 10 per cent of the original composition".
IAS is defined as the non-native to the ecosystem under consideration, whose introduction causes economic or environmental harm to human health and does not provide an equivalent benefit to society.
Speaking at a day's Workshop on "Enabling Policy and Institutional Environment for Invasive Plant Management in Ghana" Prof Owusu-Bennoah noted that water hyacinth and Salivina in the Tano and Volta River systems have adversely affected fishing and water supply, livelihoods of the communities living along the rivers and the weeds have also contributed to the prevalence of bilharzias.
He said there was therefore the need to manage the IAS by involving those at the grassroots adding, "Its management also illustrates the important role scientists have to play to protect the environment and productive systems from threats".
The national workshop was an outcome of one of the four components identified by the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP) and Global Initiative Project on "Removing Barriers to Invasive Plant Management in Africa", which is being implemented in Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia.
Prof Owusu-Bennoah said though the project was partly sponsored by international donors, there was the need to complement the donor resources to fully find ways for effective management of IAS for the benefit of the people and the environment.
Mr Papa Owusu-Ankoma, Minister of Education, Science and Sports in a speech read for him said if the invasive species could be managed and controlled global biodiversity could be preserved.
He noted that legislation and most action programmes in Ghana have not taken into account the realities of the problems associated with the prevention and management of IAS.
"The little legislation that could be applied in the management of IAS predates the introduction of specific species into the country. This makes it difficult for their provisions to be evoked to adequately deal with the problem of movements and spread of such species under the present circumstances", he added.
The Minister expressed the Ministry's commitment to provide an in-cash cooperate-financing contribution for the successful implementation of the project in removing barriers to invasive plant management in Ghana.
Mr Amoako-Atta D'Graft Johnson, National Project Coordinator, Ghana said the immediate objective of the four-year project was to remove barriers to the management of IAS through effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
He noted that Ghana has pledged cash co-financing of 500,000 dollars per year for the four years out of the total project cost of about 10,392,980 dollars.
Mr D'Graft Johnson said the project would be hosted and executed by CSIR and has water hyacinth and Paper/Pulp Mulberry as the target for a community based management and control at the pilot sites on River Oti arm of the Lake Volta and within the River Afram headwaters Forest Reserve in the Offinso District of the Ashanti region respectively The project has identified four categories of barriers to IAS management and these are policy, information management, strategies for prevention and management and capacity building.
