Tema: The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) is taking deliberate steps through the Greening Tema Project to plant many trees and expand green parks, improve waste collection, and collaborate with industries to reduce emissions. The Assembly is also enforcing the law on protecting Ramsar sites which have been encroached upon by some recalcitrant members of society. "Demolitions are the painful way to accelerate our actions," said Ms. Ebi Bright, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive.
According to Ghana News Agency, Ms. Bright, in a speech read on her behalf at a durbar to celebrate the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies 2025, organised by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), indicated that other measures include the strengthening of local regulations by strictly enforcing environmental bylaws to reduce open burning, regulate industrial emissions, mitigate vehicular emissions, and control dust pollution from construction and transport. "We must prevent the illegality of siting industries in residential areas, promote sustainable urban development, expand green belts, launch tree-planting campaigns, and develop eco-friendly transport systems to restore balance to our environment," the MCE said.
She also indicated that another crucial intervention was for the TMA to provide clean fish-smoking ovens to fishmongers in Tema Newtown and other fishing communities to curb carbon emissions. There would also be increased public awareness and partnerships to educate citizens and work with industries, schools, civil society, and faith-based groups to promote behavioral change for cleaner and healthier communities.
The MCE stated that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) stand at the forefront of environmental governance, as their mandate places them closest to the people. With that comes a responsibility to enforce sanitation and waste management by-laws, regulate local industries, promote green and sustainable urban development, and educate the citizens on best practices for safeguarding the health of the environment.
She emphasized that the celebration serves as a solemn reminder that the air, which is a resource fundamental to life, is under threat from human activities, including industrial emissions, vehicle exhaust fumes, open burning of waste, and unregulated urban growth, which continue to compromise air quality in the cities, including Greater Accra. "The consequences are dire: increased respiratory illnesses, increased mortality, weakened ecosystems, increased healthcare burdens, and diminished productivity in our communities," she said.
Touching on the air quality in Tema, she acknowledged efforts by organisations such as the People's Dialogue on Human Settlements, with support from the Clean Air Fund, to provide critical empirical evidence on the level of air pollution in some of the communities. She said, "Their recent report revealed the air quality in Tema Newtown, for instance, has deteriorated by over 150 percent relative to the recommended WHO and EPA standards."
Ms. Bright stressed that clean air was not a luxury but rather a human right and a public good; therefore, protecting it requires collective action, shared responsibility, and sustained commitment.
