Ghana has been urged to lead the way in the conservation of biodiversity in Africa as it did in the war against colonialism.

“As Africans, we have another challenge, another war and this is to ensure that life would continue to be sustained, it is a war against extinction of the species, against degradation of the environment”, said Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Speaking at a forum on biodiversity conservation organised by the Ministry Of Environment, Science and Technology in Accra, on Monday, Dr Djoghlaf said the fight to conserve biodiversity could only be won through the engagement of every citizen of the planet as ambassadors of biodiversity.

He said this was the basis of the United Nations’ declaration of the years 2011 – 2020 as the ‘UN Decade on Biodiversity’.

Dr Djoghlaf said Africa and Ghana in particular was endowed with unique biodiversity, adding that eight out of the world’s 34 biodiversity hot spots were located in Africa, hence the need for the continent to be actively involved in biodiversity conservation.

He added that biodiversity also sustained the economy with about 93 per cent of earning in Africa being derived from biodiversity and that destroying it would mean destroying the capital of the nation.

He revealed that the rate of extinction of biodiversity today was up to 1000 times higher than the natural rate of extinction and said a major cause of this was climate change as evidenced by events around the world such as famines, droughts and heat waves.

Other causes are urbanisation and the transfer of organisms from one place to another. Environmental losses caused introduced pests worldwide, worth 1.4 trillion dollars; almost five per cent of global GDP.

He also stressed the need to engage policy makers at the national as well as local levels to lead in biodiversity conservation since they would make policies and laws in that direction for implementation.

Dr Djoghlaf said if efforts were not made in this decade to conserve and sustain biodiversity, it would be too late to restore it when it reached the tipping point of ecosystems.

“This decade is vital for us as mankind to ensure that the planet, that nature everywhere in the world can continue to sustain life”, he said.

Madam Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology said biodiversity was the wealth of the nation as the environment was needed for oil, gold and other resources to drive the economy.

She said Ghana would gain from the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing, which was adopted by the CBD at its 10th Conference of parties held in Nagoya, Japan, as it ensured fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

She added that when Ghana’s national strategy was completed, it would be integrated into the national development agenda and appealed to the CBD to continue to support Ghana financially too carry out its projects in conserving biodiversity.

Professor Oteng Yeboah, Chairman of the national biodiversity committee, said Ghana had performed creditably in the convention and had taken active roles in protecting necessary biodiversity in Ghana.

He called on those who had benefitted from seeing and enjoying the God-given resources of the nation to be good care-takers of those things for posterity since those resources did not belong to them.

Participants at the forum bemoaned the absence of some plant species and other biodiversity which existed in some areas in the past and called on the Ministry and the CDB to work towards the conservation of Ghana’s biodiversity.

The CBD is an international legally-binding treaty with three main goals of conserving biodiversity, sustaining the use of biodiversity and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetics resources.

It has 193 signatories including Ghana, and has adopted a strategic plan for biodiversity, a ten-year framework for action by all countries.

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