MINING MUST NOT AFFECT LIFE IN C'NITIES - ADJEI

A Seminar on `Environmental Management Development' was held at Mateheko in Accra at the week-end. The seminar was intended to expose the residents to politics of sectoral ministries whose activites impinge on the environment and welfare of the community.

In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Kwabena Adjei, Minister of Lands and Forestry, said mining, quarrying and agricultural activities should not be undertaken in a manner that would adversely affect life in communities.

Dr Adjei noted that inadequate attention paid to environmental problems posed great danger to the health and productivity of the people while aggravating land degradation.

Land degradation, he said, led to loss of productive potential of the rural areas, causing stagnation and declines in yeilds for the poor.

The Minister cited erosion as the most visible symptom of land degradation which destroyed social and economic infrastructure lime dams, bridges, roads and buildings.

Dr Adjei said in the Accra Metropolis, the indiscriminate exploitation of land resources had also given rise to atmospheric and water pollution as well as water scarcity leading to poor household hygiene.

He announced that the Ministry had set up a committee to formulate a Land Use Policy which would ensure discipline in the utilization of land resources and promote growth and reduce poerty in the rural areas.

He, therefore, called on the district assemblies to ensure that the utilization of land resources did not aggravate litigations.

That, he said, could be achieved through intentive public education and maintaining closer working relationship with public agencies responsible for the management of land resources and promoting environmental security.

Mr Sam Pee Yally, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, decried the practice where open spaces in the metropolis were being converted into market stores.

He warned that if urgent steps were not taken to reverse the trend, the city might soon be engulfed in uncontrollable waste.