Wishing Mother Nature Well On World Environment Day

On what is World Environment Day, one cannot but  wonder at what lies in stock, for future generations, in quality-of-life terms -  as we trash both the natural and built environment across the length and breadth of  Ghana with careless abandon.

 Everywhere one looks, in both the countryside and urban Ghana, egregious harm is being done to the earth that  sustains us - and we are seeing ecosystems being destroyed in vast swathes of the Ghanaian landmass.

Wildlife habit loss is occuring at a frightening pace  - as  biodiversity hotspots disappear. And in many towns and cities across the nation, Ghanaians are gradually being engulfed by unimaginable filth. Is it not time we banned the main culprit, non-biodegradable plastic, from Ghana?

 Ruthless and amoral individuals,  driven by unfathomable greed, are putting our collective future in jeopardy as they poison soils,  surface water bodies and the underground watertable with impunity  - in ther single-minded quest for gold.

 As my widow's mite contribution to the fight to keep Ghana clean,  I am offering Zoomlion land either to build a campus for an environmental university, or  to build a landfill site - but on condition that  any structures built will be world-class, well-engineered and  built to the highest environmental standards: and will not affect neighbours in the area negatively in any way.

What is sad in all this, is that in  all parts of Ghana, traditionally, we are a people who for centuries have always valued our natural heritage. In the past, we protected our forests, revered our rivers and kept our villages and homes clean at all material times. What a sorry pass we have come to, alas.

One hopes that  the nationwide furore generated by the destruction of part of an old forest near the public areas of the  Aburi Botanical Gardens - allegedly  by a district chief executive  -  will be a watershed moment that will lead to renewed commitment by officialdom to the protection of  the remainder of Ghana's forests.

 Many rivers across Ghana could eventually disappear if there is no change of heart by officials responsible for the protection of Ghana's forests. What quality of life will Ghanaians have then?

 In the long-term Mother Nature will survive and regenerate itself - it is humankind that risks  disappearing off the face of the planet Earth by making our biosphere uninhabitable. That cold  fact of life ought to serve as a warning to present-day Ghanaians.

If environmental  degradation on the scale we are currently witnessing is not halted, we may end up  having to spend all the wealth generated in Ghana,  on a plethora of  projects, dedicated to  the restoration of  the health of the natural environment  -  just to ensure that our country continues to remain habitable at a  time when global climate change is impacting Ghana negatively.

One wishes Mother Nature well on World Environment Day - ditto all members of the one-human-race dedicated to protecting her around the world.