Accra: Mr Kyei Kwadwo Yamoah, the Executive Director of the Human Environmental and Livelihood Platform Foundation (HELP FOUNDATION AFRICA), has called on the public to help the country to maintain healthy oceans. Mr Yamoah, speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in commemoration of World Ocean Day, noted that healthy oceans were important to ensure a stable climate.
According to Ghana News Agency, World Ocean Day is commemorated annually on June 8, with this year’s theme being ‘Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us’. Mr Yamoah emphasized that a greener world isn’t just about what happens on land, highlighting that healthy oceans are crucial for maintaining a stable climate. He warned of urgent threats from plastic pollution to our blue planet.
Mr Yamoah explained that the theme of World Ocean Day underlined the ocean’s critical role in sustaining humanity, covering over 70 per cent of the planet and serving as a life source for humans and other organisms. The ocean produces at least 50 per cent of the planet’s oxygen and absorbs about 30 per cent of carbon dioxide produced by humans, thus buffering the impacts of global warming.
Furthermore, the ocean is home to most of Earth’s biodiversity and serves as the main source of protein for more than a billion people worldwide. An estimated 40 million people are expected to be employed by ocean-based industries by 2030. Mr Yamoah noted the connection between World Environment Day 2025 and World Ocean Day 2025, focusing on environmental protection, particularly plastic pollution and sustainable ecosystems.
He highlighted the collective action required to tackle plastic pollution, which is clogging rivers, choking oceans, and finding its way into human food. Mr Yamoah described plastic pollution as one of the most urgent environmental crises, severely affecting marine life, disrupting ecosystems, damaging coastal economies, and entering the human food chain.
He detailed how marine animals like fish, turtles, whales, and seabirds ingest plastic, mistaking it for food, which can block digestion, cause internal injuries, and lead to starvation. Animals such as seals, dolphins, and seabirds get trapped in fishing nets and other debris, leading to injury or death. Tiny plastic particles from degraded plastics or personal care products are ingested by plankton and small fish, moving up the food chain.
Mr Yamoah further explained how plastic pollution disrupts marine ecosystems, smothering coral reefs and seabeds, and how floating plastics carry non-native species to new areas, destabilising ecosystems. Plastics absorb toxic pollutants, which bioaccumulate in marine organisms and biomagnify up the food chain, impacting human health through seafood.
The economic and social costs of plastic pollution are significant, affecting fisheries, damaging nets, and reducing fish stocks, which impact artisanal and commercial fishers. Plastic-littered beaches and polluted waters deter tourism, especially in coastal communities reliant on it. Mr Yamoah mentioned the contribution of plastic production and disposal to greenhouse gas emissions, affecting carbon sequestration by harming plankton.
He noted the health implications of microplastics consumed through seafood, salt, and water, with potential effects on hormones and the immune system. In Ghana, rivers like the Odaw and Korle in Accra carry plastic waste to the sea, affecting mangrove ecosystems and threatening the livelihoods of coastal fishers and processors.
Despite the challenges, Mr Yamoah believes solutions to plastic pollution are within reach, such as reducing single-use plastics, improving waste management, supporting beach clean-ups, enforcing bans on plastic use, and promoting recycling initiatives. Education and advocacy are crucial for shifting behaviours and policies to address this issue.