Mr Kwaku Asante, Executive Director for Agency for Health and Food Security, said effective partnerships in implementing collective strategies were important to achieve the SDGs, which goals were to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and improve the health and environment for the present and future generations.

He was speaking at a meeting of CSOs in Kumasi to deliberate on their roles in the implementation of the SDG number 12. The objective is “Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns”.

The meeting was also to help identify gaps in the implementation of the SDG 12, demonstrate what CSO’s had done about it so far, establish partnerships and share research outcomes.      

 Mr Asante, who is also the Convener of the SDG 12, said the meeting was also to draw public attention on the worrying state of consumption and production in the country. He said about 60 per cent of the water bodies in the country had been polluted, largely due to human activities, and that, the country could face major water crises by 2030, if the situation was not addressed immediately.

The massive forest degradation as a result of exploitation of timber resources, post-harvest losses, which was estimated to be around 30 per cent, over reliance of organic fertilizers by farmers had compromised soil biodiversity and affected food production.

Mr Asante stressed the need for the adoption of biochar as soil amendment tool towards improving and reclaiming degraded soil resources to help achieve SDG 12.

Madam Ugonna Ukaigwe, the National Coordinator for CSOs Platform on SDGs, stressed the need for CSOs to monitor how the country was working to achieve the targets of goal 12.