The book
A FORMER Director of the Ghana Law School, George Agyemang Sarpong, has unveiled a masterpiece on Ghanaian Environmental Law.
The book, titled: “Ghanaian Environmental Law – International and National Perspectives”, comprises 491 pages in 10 chapters.
The book has been structured to deal with basic doctrinal issues such as nature, sources and development of environmental law, as well as other core aspects of the subject such as environmental justice.
It also engages with the sources of Ghanaian law that have environmental dimensions from the 1992 Constitution, statutory regulations to by-laws of the District Assemblies, international conventions, case law, and government policy documents including proposal for reforms where relevant.
It gives detailed attention to the treatment of natural resources in Ghana, especially the menace of deforestation and water pollution.
The author set out to ascertain the extent to which Ghana environmental jurisprudence has been influenced by Ghana’s participation in various international and local fora and treaty arrangements on the subject.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday at the British Council in Accra, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, opined that the book was mainly about the external environment.
According to him, the launch of the book was timely as it will help to create consciousness in Ghanaians about the significance of the environment.
The minister bemoaned that Ghanaians cause great destruction to the environment without realizing that everything concerning their survival depended on the environment.
“We have taken the trouble to destroy the environment,” the minister noted, adding that it was necessary for everyone to safeguard the environment from undue destruction.
Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong of the Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia, reviewed the book. A former minister of state in the erstwhile President Kufuor’s administration, Madam Elizabeth Ohene, launched the book.
The function chaired by Dr. Tony Oteng was well attended by members of the Judiciary, the Ghana Bar Association, policymakers, among others.
BY Melvin Tarlue & Ruth Ofori