The regional office of the Environment Protection Agency South has erected stop notice sign posts in wetlands in various part of Bo city. This is part of the Agency’s efforts to minimize human actions on the environment and protect wetlands within the district and other parts of the southern region. There has been serious encroachment and degradation of wetlands within and around the city of Bo and other districts headquarter towns in the southern region as a result of incessant backfilling and construction of houses in wetlands leading to serious flooding with attendant impacts on the health and livelihood of hundreds of people.
As a responsible institution, the Agency has engaged the media on various occasions sensitizing the public on the importance of wetlands to humans and the need to protect them for various ecological services they provide in addition to its effective flood mitigation potential. Various stakeholders have been engaged at various levels to enhance the effective management and protection of wetlands.
Also, as part of enforcing compliance, the regional office has engaged various construction companies operating in the southern region not to use their trucks to backfill wetlands as was previously the case. In addition, routine monitoring is conducted periodically that has seen the arrest of several people engaged in backfilling and /or construction of houses in wetlands who are now helping the police with investigation.
The production and erection of sign post is the latest strategy to ward-off people from encroaching and backfilling wetlands as we fastly approach the dry season. It has to be noted that the backfilling and construction of houses in wetlands/swamps is illegal. Those who are in the habit of altering the nature of swamps through backfilling and constructing houses are committing environmental crimes and will be dealt with in accordance the Environment protection Agency Act 2008 as amended 2022 and other relevant laws/regulations. We therefore want to encourage all residents of Bo and other parts of the Southern region to be vigilant in their environment to identify and report any environmental infraction observed. The management and protection of the environment is the responsibility of all. Let’s work together to make the environment save for all to enhance sustainable development.
The regional office of the Environment Protection Agency can be reached at:40 Bo-Taiama Highway Bo opposite SKM Filling Station or through the following numbers:
078 248886
088 452623
076 883979
099 545494
034 400562
