Some encroached parts of Sakumono Ramsar sites by developers
Ghana risks losing the Sakumono Ramsar sites meant to control excessive water from parts of Aburi, Madina as well as building climate resilience to housing developers.
Wetlands in Ghana
Wetlands are considered under the Ramsar Convention as “areas of marsh, fen, peat lands or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water with a depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.
Ghana has six designated Ramsar sites, which are wetlands designated under the criteria of Ramsar wetland convention, an international treaty that seeks to protect them.
These designated areas include Keta lagoon complex, Songhor, Sakumor, Densu Delta and Muni lagoon with a total land area of 176,134 hectares.
Even though, Ghana is a signatory to the convention and the wetlands are expected to be protected, many of them have been lost to encroachers including the Sakumono wetlands to developers for residential houses and other purposes.
Accra: Sakumo Ramsar sites
The site which is situated beside the coastal road linking Accra and Tema, 3 kilometres west of Tema township with an open lagoon varying from 100 to 350 hectares covering some parts of Sakumono village, Klagon, Lashibi covering an area of 1400 hectares (3,500acres) since its designation has already lost about a third of the area to housing developers.
However, Bayasford Acquah, Sites Manager at the Sakumo Ramsar site, said 50 percent of the 1200 acres of the core area of Ramsar sites have been encroached.
Importance of Sakumono Ramsar sites in mitigating climate Change/resilience
Joep Verhagen, Programme lead of Global Center on Adaptation (GCA)’s water and urban team, “Healthy wetlands are biodiversity hotspots that can greatly contribute to building climate resilience and are efficient in sequestering carbon in its soil and biomass.
According to him, wetlands capture CO₂ from the atmosphere, making them nature’s own solution to the climate emergency, storing more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth,
A lecturer with the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences of the University of Ghana, Dr. Andrews Agyekumhene, in an interview with the DAILY GUIDE also maintained that the Sakumono Ramsar sites which contains mangrove, serves as a key habitat for sequestering more than 60 percent of carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
“When the capacity of the surface area of water is reduced, the little that is left is evaporated into the sky resulting in the shortage of water which has negative impacts on the environment as a result of climate change. Carbon emissions will not only increase but it will also affect aquatic life of fish species, that is, a reduction in the quantity and quality of fish, as most of these species of fish also thrives well in the Sakumor lagoon apart from living in the sea,” he added
Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel, also observed that wetlands cover only nine percent of the planet’s surface, but store up to 35 percent of terrestrial carbon which when drained or destroyed could cause significant carbon emissions.
Technical advisor to the CEO of Forestry Commission, David Kpelle, in an interview with a section of journalists said the Sakumono Ramsar sites are very important as these serve as a habitat for migratory birds and more especially as a control system to store excessive water in order to prevent Tema and some surrounding communities such as Klago and parts of the Tema motorway from flooding during heavy rains.
According to a renowned environmentalist, Prof. Chris Gordon, wetlands serve as a buffer for floods, storm surges that absorbs water while reducing the impact of drought to replenish groundwater by releasing trapped water slowly into aquifers.
He further explains that wetlands also serve as a breeding and nursery grounds for several species of marine fish, which are a source of people’s livelihood (both as fisher-folk and in the downstream fish value chain.
Danger
It is feared that given the rapidly expanding Accra Tema metropolitan area, the entire catchment area would be taken over by residential developers which would have adverse effects on the climate as well as the Sakumor Lagoon.
Additionally, if such fast developments structures are not stopped, Ghana may eventually lose the entire Ramsar to residential developers which may not only disrupt the country’s efforts towards mitigating climate change but also, residents in nearby communities, who would have to face the challenges associated with severe flooding from the uphills of Aburi and Madina.
State Actors/stakeholders
Institutions and scholars have said that Ghana, as a signatory to the Ramsar Convention on protecting wetlands, can do more by educating people to appreciate the importance of these sites especially, the Sakumono Ramsar site, in controlling floods and reducing carbon emission.
Failure by state actors to find a clear pathway to act swiftly would heavily impact adjoining communities to the Ramsar sites such as Ashaiman, Sakumono village, Lashibi more susceptible to floods while increasing the impact of climate change due to increased carbon emission from the Ramsar site.
Although, the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), under the leadership of the Regional Minister, the Ministry of lands and Natural Resources and its agencies such as the Forestry Commission, among others, have already embarked on a series of activities to demolish structures at the Sakumono Ramsar sites. Furthermore, Government could do more by educating and raising awareness and designing policies that would also punish people who encroach not only on the Sakumono Ramsar sites but other wetlands in Ghana.
This will go a long way to support the larger ecosystem, protect the environment to reduce climate related disasters as stated in the goal 13 of the sustainable development goals.
Dr. Yaw Agyeman Boafo, Senior Research Fellow, Integrated Ecosystems Assessment & Sustainability Science of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, University of Ghana, in his recommendation, noted that “now that we have acknowledged that the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the reason why there are high temperatures locally and globally, let’s pause and stop the activities that send more of this into the atmosphere. This includes government ensuring that further development of residential facilities on the Sakumor Ramsar sites is halted”.
Dr. Andrews Agyekumhene of the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences, also recommended enforcement of regulations such as bye laws to protect the Sakumono Ramsar sites from encroachers as pertains in other jurisdictions.
He said these regulations and bye laws by communities could be achieved through co-management between traditional authorities and the state.
According to him, once the Sakumono Ramsar sites are co-managed, enforcing bye laws and compliance to protect the site would become easy because they see it as a shared responsibility to protect their own land.
This report is produced in fulfilment of UNESCO and CIJ London Climate Change in News media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah