• Home
• Photos
• Videos
• Blog
• Partners
• Dam Safety

TRENDING

Keynote Address delivered by the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing during the launching of the Riparian Buffer Zone Policy

LAUNCH OF THE RIPARIAN BUFFER ZONE POLICY

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

BY

HON. COLLINS DAUDA (MP)

HON. MINISTER FOR WATER – MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES WORKS AND HOUSING

07 May 2014

Nana Chairman

Heads of Agencies and Departments

Distinguished Guests

The Media

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my pleasure to be with you today to launch the Riparian Buffer Zone Policy for Managing Freshwater Bodies in Ghana. Allow me to start by thanking you all for your continuous support and attachment to the process towards building a shared understanding and cooperation in our quest for potential ways forward for the water sector.

Nana Chairman, it is needless stressing the point that in our quest to develop as a nation, ensuring the sustainable management of our water resources is critical and unavoidable. Unfortunately, even though we acknowledge the importance of water in our existence, all of us would agree that we have not done much in our collective efforts to protect and sustain our water resources.

A visit to the banks of rivers and streams in most parts of this country would generally reveal instances and evidence of abuse of our water resources. Our actions and inactions have contributed to the degraded lands resulting in the perennial drying of rivers and streams in our various communities.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we need new approaches in terms of policy, investment, and governance that can help better manage “too much”, “too little” or “too polluted” water in an inclusive way, now and in the future to ensure the sustenance of life.

In recent years the use of natural buffer zones to protect freshwater from degradation and pollution has attracted considerable interest worldwide including Ghana. This global interest has been driven through the strategic statement, which gained currency in Western Environmental literature from the mid 1990s, that:

"There is the general believe that buffers must be an important element of any overall strategy...Perhaps the most important challenge, which we must not lose sight of is to develop an overall strategy for spatial development. Such a strategy will identify in which spatial areas buffer zones are best suited. Only then can we achieve the level of protection and enhancement of our river systems that is needed."

Nana Chairman, for us in Ghana, this strategic statement has been reinforced by our drive for management solutions to control diffuse pollution and protect the water environment. Thankfully, technically driven initiatives helped to accelerate an interactive process for "solutions" that have culminated in the Riparian Buffer Zone Policy document, which is regarded as an additional major output and working tool for the management of our water resources.

A reflection on the benefits of riparian buffers reveals a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits including:

• Trapping and removing sediment from runoff
• Stabilizing stream banks and reducing channel erosion
• Trapping and removing nutrients and contaminants
• Storing flood waters, thereby reducing property damage
• Maintaining habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms
• Providing terrestrial habitat
• Maintaining good water quality
• Improving aesthetics, thereby increasing property values; and
• Offering recreational and educational opportunities

Taking cognizance of such enormous benefits, the Buffer Zone Policy has been designed as a harmonized document of all the dormant and fragmented regulations in the country concerning buffers bordering water bodies or river systems. It has also been designed to provide comprehensive measures and actions that would guide the coordinated creation of vegetative buffers for the preservation and functioning of our water bodies and vital ecosystems.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the obvious challenging task is how to make the outlined policy decisions practically workable especially within the national and district level integrated planning frameworks.

Indeed, despite their importance, several barriers stand in the way for an effective buffer implementation. For instance, for one, the riparian buffer requires a uniform and effective system of protection, which requires strong institutional coordination and collaboration. For another, it is true that water management and spatial development are closely connected, but those who benefit from spatial development, such as municipalities and property developers, would not necessarily be amenable to bear the costs of water management, which includes the creation of buffers.

Nana Chairman, it is time to be optimistic and for us to take bold and pragmatic steps by urging and supporting the efforts of local governments to develop effective and comprehensive riparian buffer programs in their development plans.

It is time for all stakeholders to ensure that we are guided by the policy in our activities.  We should not let the policy gather dust with a business-as-usual approach. The needs are real, the challenges enormous but we will only be equal to the task if we coordinate our efforts better by complementing our strengths and comparative advantages.  In short, we should reach out of the water box for the policy to be meaningfully implemented.

We require a renewed focus on stakeholder engagement that is desirable to address the risks to our consensus-building process which, in the context of an awareness gap, can lead to diminishing the role of the less-vocal and potential capture by the most-vocal stakeholders.  

We require the momentum to begin the development of legislative instrument to support the enforcement of sensitive provisions of the policy and also provide a window of opportunity to review the policy periodically to incorporate necessary changes that may come with time.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders’ whose tireless efforts contributed to the development of this document.  It is my expectation and hope that the key actors will be supported to ensure effective policy implementation.

Nana Chairman, at this juncture I wish to formally launch the Riparian Buffer Zone Policy for Managing Freshwater Bodies in Ghana. It is my hope that it will serve a worthy purpose for us all.

I thank you