Stakeholders discuss new initiatives for biodiversity monitoring, mapping

Ghana is intensifying efforts to show and conserve its biodiversity assets arsenic portion of commitments to planetary biology goals, including the Convention connected Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Through pockets of existing projects information and the Future of Biodiversity Monitoring and Mapping successful Ghana, a caller initiative, has commenced to place gaps and opportunities to physique robust model to amended support quality arsenic good arsenic assistance determination making.

Dr Peter Dery, the Director of Environment astatine the Environment, Science and Technology opened a nationalist stakeholders’ store connected biodiversity monitoring and mapping, said earthy resources were captious to the nation’s economy, taste identity, and ecological resilience.

The store volition place further prioritisation of these opportunities for improvement into probe task connection (by task partners) perchance incorporating immoderate oregon each of the following; greenish financing, caller technologies, gathering capableness and integer infrastructure successful this region

The Project Organising Partners see UNESCO, Development Bank Ghana (DBG), Ghana Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK and West Africa offices).

In a code delivered connected his behalf Dr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology said earthy resources were captious to the nation’s economy, taste identity, and ecological resilience.

Dr Muhammed said Ghana was 1 of Africa’s biodiversity hotspots, with divers ecosystems crossed forests, wetlands, savannahs, and coastal zones.

He said the inaugural was successful enactment with the country’s imaginativeness to integrate biodiversity into nationalist improvement planning, supply evidence/science-based decision-making and physique capableness for sustained biodiversity monitoring.

The Minister noted it was a precedence to update and instrumentality Ghana’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) successful enactment with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)

Government, the Minister added, hoped to finalise the National Biodiversity Plan and found a ceremonial ineligible model for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

Mr Edmond Moukala, the Representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reiterated the organisation’s committedness to promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable improvement done its planetary programmes and initiatives.

He noted that the nationalist store highlighted the value of its flagship Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme and the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, which includes 756 sites crossed 136 countries, including Ghana.

Mr Moukala stated that Ghana’s Bia, Lake Bosomtwe, and Songor Biosphere Reserves played a captious relation successful demonstrating however biodiversity conservation tin beryllium harmonised with sustainable livelihoods.

Those reserves, helium said, served arsenic exemplary sites for investigating interdisciplinary approaches to managing changes successful societal and ecological systems.

“UNESCO remains committed to supporting nationalist and planetary efforts to physique sustainable greenish economies, span information gaps, and fortify the nexus betwixt biodiversity and clime resilience,” helium said.

Professor Helen Roy, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and University of Exeter, said the satellite was facing biodiversity nonaccomplishment caused by quality activities, clime alteration and pollution.

She noted determination were initiatives successful the biodiversity model which could facilitate restoration if countries worked hard to efficaciously instrumentality them.

Professor Roy noted that moving unneurotic with stakeholders and exploring caller tools, technologies would assistance amended support nature.