My Ghana Electronic Desk

EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Although studies have shown that globally water resources are dwindling, which makes the scarcity of freshwater imminent, Ghanaians have been assured that Ghana does not face that looming threat – at least, not anytime soon. According to the Chief Manager, Public Relations of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Mr. Michael Agyeman, Ghana currently uses a very insignificant percentage of its water resource to meet its water needs, which he puts at about 0.0005%. “From where I sit, even if I am looking at Accra water – we depend on the Volta Lake. And it looks like from our calculations, we are not taking more than 1% of the volume of water that is even flowing into the sea at Kpong. By calculations, I think 0.0005% or something of that sort, so I know that we have a lot of water and if you look at where Kpong is, we are not even depending on the lake – the water in the lake for the dam. “We are abstracting water from outside th

EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has charged journalists to be bold in their reportage on water and sanitation issues and not be afraid of politicians in the performance of their duty. The sector minister, who gave the charge on Friday when he addressed the closing ceremony of a training workshop for over 40 selected West African journalists in Accra, said “I am also confident that participants leave this workshop with all the courage to report the facts as they are but not to pander to the whims of the various political leaderships in their countries and communities.” “I am sure it has empowered you enough to be able to rise up to the challenge and to have the courage to confront political leadership everywhere you go, to re-prioritise to make sure that water comes next to air,” he stressed. “Please don’t chicken out when you are threatened. Political power is more slippery

EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), produced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) confirms that the world has failed to meet its target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Released in London, England and Montreal, Canada on 10 May 2010, the report states that natural systems that support economies, lives and livelihoods across the planet are at risk of rapid degradation and collapse, unless there is swift, radical and creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth. The statement is a principal conclusion of a major new assessment of the current state of biodiversity and the implications of its continued loss for human well-being. The Outlook , a four-yearly report released since 2002, warns that massive further loss of biodiversity is becoming increasingly likely, and with it, a severe reduction of many essential services to human societies as several “tippin