The United Nations and its allied agencies in Ghana have carried out a clean up at the beachfront of the Regional Maritime University at Nungua in the Greater Accra Region.

The coastal cleaning initiative, held in partnership with organisations such as Ecozoil, Plastic Punch, an environmental NGO, the Regional Maritime University, the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the Norwegian Embassy, Margins ID Group, MTN, Fidelity Bank, MyHealthCop and the Buz Stop Boys, formed part of efforts to address environmental challenges, improve sanitation and promote community well-being.

The UNESCO Representative to Ghana, Edmond Moukala, highlighted the critical state of the world's oceans due to climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

He stressed the importance of collective action to protect the oceans and promote sustainable use of ocean resources.

Mr Moukala underscored the need for partnerships and community involvement to amplify the importance of protecting the ocean, adding that it was everyone's responsibility and that small actions could lead to significant positive change.

Commitment

The chargé d'affaires at the Norwegian Embassy in Ghana, Kyrre Holm, emphasised the importance of collective action to protect the ocean from pollution, overfishing, biodiversity loss and climate change.

He highlighted Norway's commitment to sustainable ocean governance and supporting coastal communities and also called for a renewed commitment to SDG 14 and meaningful action towards the UN Ocean Conference held in Nice, France.

A representative of the Regional Maritime University, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Nautical Science, Johnson Adjetey stressed the importance of keeping the oceans clean, particularly from plastic waste.

He said plastic pollution harmed marine life, ships and coastal communities and welcomed initiatives to clean up the ocean and beaches,  adding that such sustained interventions would contribute to protecting the oceans. 

Bad attitude

The Founder and leader of the Buz Stop Boys, Heneba Kwadwo Safo, said a significant portion of ocean trash originated from bad attitudes of members of the society who deliberately dumped waste into drains, particularly during rainfall.

He underscored the importance of addressing the root cause of the problem through raising awareness and community engagement, promoting responsible citizenship to ultimately reduce ocean pollution.

A Board Member of Plastic Punch, Kwaku Amponsah Boahene, said using bottles instead of single-use plastics offered significant environmental and health benefits.

He also encouraged the segregation of waste at source to minimise pollution.