The government has launched a National Biodiversity Monitoring Initiative (NBMI) aimed at strengthening the country’s capacity to collect, analyse and report biodiversity data to support conservation planning and evidence-based policymaking.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms, including plants, animals and microorganisms, as well as the ecosystems they form.
The initiative, which is being implemented by Conservation Alliance Ghana, in partnership with UN Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre, forms part of efforts to improve the country’s reporting obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The five-year project, which is running from 2025 to 2030, is being supported financially by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
Launch
In a speech read on his behalf at the launch in Accra, the acting Minister of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, said the initiative was a strategic response to the growing threats faced by the country’s ecosystems, including climate change, land degradation and human activities.
He said the initiative would help the country to develop reliable systems to monitor biodiversity trends.
“Biodiversity monitoring is not only about collecting data. It is also about accountability, transparency and informed decision-making to safeguard our natural resources for future generations,” he said.
Challenges
The Executive Director of Conservation Alliance Ghana, Dr Yaw Osei Owusu, explained that one of the major challenges facing biodiversity conservation in the country was the fragmentation of data across different institutions, making it difficult for policymakers and researchers to access comprehensive information for planning.
He said the initiative would centralise biodiversity information to improve decision-making and support the country’s international reporting commitments.
Dr Owusu said the programme would initially begin in Accra before expanding to Kumasi, the middle belt and northern parts of the country to ensure nationwide coverage.
He further said that efforts were underway to raise additional funding to support chiefs, citizen scientists and local communities to participate actively in biodiversity monitoring activities.
Monitoring
The Director of Environment at MEST and Ghana’s focal point for the Convention on Biological Diversity, Dr Peter Dery, explained that countries that were parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity were required to submit biodiversity reports every four years, but Ghana had struggled over the years due to weak monitoring systems and fragmented information.
He said the recently completed Seventh National Biodiversity Report had been particularly challenging because officials had to physically visit institutions to gather and harmonise data from different sources.
Dr Dery said the new initiative would strengthen coordination among institutions and establish systems that would allow biodiversity information to be generated, verified and formatted according to United Nations reporting standards.
“This initiative will help us avoid the difficulties we have experienced in the past and ensure that Ghana produces robust and reliable biodiversity data for global reporting,” he said.
The Chairman of the Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies at the University of Ghana, Professor Daniel Nukpezah, said effective biodiversity monitoring would enable policymakers to take evidence-based decisions and plan adequately for conservation interventions.
He, therefore, called for increased government support and public awareness to sustain biodiversity conservation efforts in the country.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh