The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has said he will deal ruthlessly with chiefs in the Bosomtwe District who sell lands along Lake Bosomtwe.
He noted that the spate of indiscriminate development along the lake and other bad practices on it would damage the lake and destroy its catchment area.
Otumfuo gave the warning in a speech read on his behalf by his Adontenhene, Nana Adu Gyamfi, at a ceremony by UNESCO to officially name Lake Bosomtwe as one of the world biosphere sites in the world at Abono in the Bostomtwe District in the Ashanti Region.
This recognition by UNESCO makes Lake Bosomtwe enlisted among the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) comprising 669 reserves in 120 countries.
Hence, it makes Lake Bosomtwe the third biosphere reserve in Ghana, after the Bia Biosphere Reserve in the Western Region and the Songhor Biosphere Reserve at Ada in the Greater Accra Region, respectively.
Otumfuo urged the residents living around the lake to be extra vigilant to prevent those unscrupulous people whose activities tended to damage the lake, especially those who resorted to the use of illegal nets to catch fingerlings and also dumped waste materials into it.
He charged residents of Abono and neighbouring communities to be vigilant and report all such nation wreckers to authorities for sanctioning.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
The Head and representative of UNESCO in Ghana, Mr Tirso Dos Santos, said UNESCO had commenced a ‘Sustainable Management of Lake Bosomtwe’ project around the lake which was key to the socio-economic development of Abono and its neighbouring communities and the country at large.
He said the project sought to build capacities of the people living around it for the sustainable management of the lake through the setting up of the Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA) aimed at empowering natives to manage their natural resources.
According to Mr Dos Santos, hundreds of farmers in the area have been assisted with cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm and forest trees to be planted on their existing farms to help create a more productive use of the stretch of land along the lake.
Also, environmental clubs have been formed in basic schools to help train and equip these young ones to appreciate and conserve the lake for posterity.
Environment
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Mahama Ayariga, in a speech read by the Director of Finance and Administration at the ministry, Mr Alexander Kwamang, said the ministry was committed to finding sustainable ways of safeguarding the site.
He, therefore, called on residents to desist from plastic waste littering, as well as poor farming practices which he said was leading to erosion in the area and sedimentation in the lake.
The District Chief Executive of the Bosomtwe District, Mrs Veronica Antwi Agyei, lauded the initiative and assured the assembly’s commitment to protecting the tourist site.
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