EPA set to protect the environment in 2021

General news for Tuesday 19 January 2021

Source: GNA

2021-01-19

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to embark on a rigorous stakeholder engagement to garner support in the implementation of environmental regulations and laws to protect the environment in 2021, said Dr Henry Kokofu, executive director of EPA.

“People still live in an age where they believe that natural resources are there forever. They simply refuse to understand that degradation has taken place and that we are risking our lives even as human beings if we continue to treat the environment in this way ”.

Speaking to the Ghanaian News Agency in an interview in Accra on Monday, Dr Kokofu said there had been a seemingly inflexible challenge from people who were unaware of environmental laws and therefore continued to abuse them with reckless abandon.

He said that was why the EPA made it its mission to tackle education and awareness of the public about environmental laws this year.

Dr Kokofu said that the Agency, through its engagement, will reach the people with a more comprehensive program to make people understand the need to protect the environment.

He said that the EPA currently having offices in all 16 regions, with its 250 additional new officers and 20 vehicles supplied to the Agency last year by the government, the Agency was well positioned to properly discharge its mandate.

Dr Kokofu said, however, that people will deliberately and consciously flout the laws, that the Agency will be determined to tackle the issues, after engaging key stakeholders, including its clients and the media.

He admitted that COVID-19 had negatively impacted EPA’s operations as most of its customers halted operations and, as a result, could not renew their permits, affecting funds generated internally – the main source of income for the operations of the Agency.

The Executive Director said it would be difficult for Ghana to mobilize the estimated US $ 22.6 billion fund from local and international sources to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

NDCs are country-targeted strategies to help adapt to the impact of climate change.

Ghana is expected to raise around $ 6.3 billion from local sources, with the remainder to come from international sources.

Dr Kokofu, said the EPA, spawned a dialogue in September last year, which kicked off the NDC review process, adding that it would be intensified this year, to ensure that NDCs and their budget forecast are executed.

He said various aspects of NDCs in particular, energy, gender and other areas of interest were being renegotiated to make them more applicable.