Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, on Monday called for new and innovative approach to address coastal and marine environmental challenges in a more comprehensive manner.
She said degradation of the coastal and marine environment, in spite of persistent education and other interventions makes it imperative to come up with new approaches.
"If we allow the current trend of degradation to continue, it will lead to likely depletion of the coastal and marine environment resources and pose major threats to our ecosystems with devastating economic and social
consequences to our Exclusive Economic Zones," she said.
Ms Ayittey was speaking, at the opening of a day's workshop held in Accra to brief Ambassadors of the 16- member countries of the Guinea Current
Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) to the second Ministerial Meeting of the body to be held in Ghana in July 2.
GCLME, which aims at combating fisheries depletion and water pollution also seeks to assist the 16 countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea, to overcome challenges of population and urbanisation, land use planning among
other priorities.
The member countries include Ghana, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Togo.
Ms Ayittey said the main challenges facing the sustainable use of coastal and marine resources were the loss of natural habitat and
biodiversity due to land-based economic activities affecting the coastal and marine ecosystems and the consequent loss of the opportunity to exploit renewable living resources.
"Experts are warning that precious estuaries may become even more polluted than they already are, as less freshwater flows to the coast from
rivers and groundwater sources.
"There is the need to acknowledge these dangers now and take remedial measures so that our coasts may be able to cope with the challenges anticipated," she added.
Mr Frank Bartels, Representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation said statistics available indicates that 80 per cent of ocean pollution results from land based source of activities including run-off from agricultural practices.
"Besides the climate change impacts, the marine ecosystem is further stressed by pollution from land-based sources and activities. Land-based sources account for more than 80 per cent of all pollution," he said.
Mr Bartels noted that, the increased stress from the impact of climate change in Africa, would compound the already existing problems associated with increasing severe droughts and floods.
He said the oceans should be protected because they provide a number of valuable services to coastal communities, including physical coastal protection, recreational and economic opportunities in the form of renewable
living marine resources as a source of nutrition and revenue from exports, oil, gas, minerals and potential biomedical resources.