Kadjebi (O/R), Feb. 15, GNA-Mr. Setriakor Gagakumah, the Deputy Oti Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), says good and sustainable environmental practices are critical to healthy living.
He said activities such as deforestation, bush burning, indiscriminate disposal of waste without segregation, and open defecation into the air and lake negatively affected the environment and contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer.
The Deputy Regional Director said the consequences of degradation which include increased poverty, famine, species loss, weather extreme, among others, must stop.
Mr Gagakumah, who made these statements during an environmental governance sensitisation programme with the students of Yabram Day Senior High School in the Krachi East Municipality of the Oti Region, said, “such environmental degradation is also a contributory factor to flooding we experience on year-to-year basis in the country.”
He said the activities of citizens in the municipality on the Oti River contributed to the typhoid infections and other water-borne diseases.
The Deputy Regional Director advised the students and staff to avoid bad environmental practices, but plant trees and keep the environment clean for a healthy life.
Mr Gagakumah charged them to change behaviour towards the environment and adhere to environmental laws and regulations to help protect the environment and make it safer for habitation.
Mr Gabriel Badu, an Assistant Headmaster in-charge of Administration, commended staff of the Commission for the programme.