Professor
Alfred Apau Oteng-Yeboah, a renowned botanist
and Chairperson of the National
Biodiversity Committee (NBC) of Ghana, is asking
the Government to gather comprehensive primary data on Ghana’s ecosystems,
plant and animal species.
This, he explained, was critical to shaping initiatives, planning and informing
policy directions in all sectors of the economy, including energy, tourism,
agriculture and health.
He said data-deficits on nature undermined efforts for its conservation and
sustainable use.
Prof Oteng-Yeboah, who was speaking at the Ghana Biodiversity Information
Management workshop in Accra, said the country’s ability to compile its
biodiversity data could serve as the basis to develop a green economy and
attract direct foreign investment (FDI).
The three-day workshop, under the African Biodiversity Challenge (ABC), sought
to complete a training on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) using the red list of
ecosystems, assist in the national invasive species plan using biodiversity
assessment to highlight key areas and make input in the draft National
Biodiversity Policy (NBP).
The ABC project is being coordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) with funding from the JRS
Biodiversity Foundation.
The project is being implemented in Ghana
in collaboration with Conservation Alliance International, A Rocha Ghana,
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Plant Genetics Resources
Research Institute with
mentorship support from the Ghana Biodiversity Information Facility of the
University of Ghana and technical backstopping from the Biodiversity
Information Management Forum
(BIMF) of Ghana.
Prof Oteng-Yeboah, who is the winner of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity in
2014 said Ghana’s ability to mobilize biodiversity data and mainstream it in
the governance structures especially the local assemblies would address the
current degradation of green belts.
Dr Simmy Bezeng, KBA focal person for Southern and West Africa, told the Ghana
News Agency that Ghana’s ability to obtain a comprehensive database on its
biodiversity would help the country know the level of degradation, unique
species, those endangered and critically endangered.
He explained such information would help the country to decide which ecosystem
needed restoration and sought the requisite funding to undertake such activity.
“A quick look at some sites using satellite imagery showed that some ecosystems
were in poor state and needed urgent restoration,” he said.
Mr Mathew Child, a Biodiversity Economy Scientist at SANBI, observed that not
much investment had been made in gathering and managing data to promote the
values of the country’s biodiversity.
Ideally, he noted that the country needed a biodiversity information system
that could take data from multiple agencies to aid decision-making.
He said there was the need to invest in building the capacity of institutional
scientists to gain the skill set to utilize the information for planning,
managing, decision-making and monitoring.
“As part of the African Biodiversity Challenge (ABC) initiative, new datasets
were collected at Atewa forest. Due to the unique species found in that forest,
it had been proposed as one of the Key Biodiversity Areas in the world,” he
said.
Source: GNA