<<Print>>

ACTING DIRECTOR of the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS) at the University of Ghana, Professor Chris Gordon has urged Ghanaians living along coastal areas to stop defecating on beaches. He said the practice does not portray Ghana as a tourist destination and causes the country to lose a lot of tourists and investors. Prof. Gordon told DAILY GUIDE in an interview during the launch of �Halting the menace: Improving the management of Ghana�s coasts by engaging and empowering the youth project� in Accra. He said there are instances where foreigners who visit Elmina Castle don�t take pictures of the cultural things they see there but rather take pictures of people defecating along the coast and on rocks. He said people in rural areas prefer to defecate along beaches even when government has provided them with public toilets. Prof. Gordon said according to the people they feel more comfortable defecating at the beach and they don�t have to pay a fee. He said �This is uncivilized. What we need is total attitudinal change or we cannot move forward as a country.� �The problems we face at our coastal areas are manmade and can be curtailed because issues of pollution, poor sanitation and coastal erosion are all caused by human beings and have negatively impacted our environment.� Prof. Gordon said successive governments have contributed to the problems because they have not done enough to protect the environment. The Ghana Coastal Management Project (GCMP) is an environmental project aimed at sensitizing Ghanaians at the local level on how citizens contribute to degradation of the coastal environment. The project involves five communities along the coast of Ghana, with a special focus on the youth in migrant Ewe fishing villages. The project is financed by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) and partnered by the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, University of Ghana.