The Reverend Dr Gordon Kissseih, First Vice President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), has called on Ghanaians to take up the fight against illegal mining to save the country’s water bodies and forest reserves from further degradation.
He noted that research had shown that it took 200 years to restore the environment after degradation, adding that the issue of climate change has become the biggest threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals to most leaders across the World.
Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Wednesday.
He urged farmers and local communities not to allow illegal logging and mining to continue and charged the security agencies on roads, ports and borders not to look on with a blind eye to allow illegal timber products bypass them without confiscation or indulge in corrupt practices.
The First Vice President, who is also the General overseer of the Life International Church, also tasked the Forest Commission to strengthen its law enforcement measures to curb illegal logging, mining and unsustainable harvesting of forest products.
“Preserving the forest and the environment will not only save the earth but is also a gift to unborn generations who will suffer the brunt of how bad the earth is treated today,” Rt Rev. Dr Kisseih said.
He urged the youth to inculcate the habit of tree-planting and conservation, adding “as you do this you begin to build a generation that is more sensitive to the issue of environmental conservation.”
Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih called for closer collaboration between stakeholders to prosecute persons who degrade the forest and other natural resources.
