The Government is expected to join the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership in October 2019.
The World Economic Forum in a statement said President Nana Akufo-Addo and Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation will formally announce the partnership next month.
Ghana will become the first country in Africa to sign up to this partnership in a bid to address the nation’s mounting plastic waste and pollution challenge.
“GPAP will fast-track progress on these fronts by working with Ghana’s public, private and civil society sectors to steer the transition towards a circular economy in which plastics are manufactured, used and re-used sustainably. It will also support and develop locally-led initiatives by creating a platform to facilitate knowledge sharing, connect like-minded actors and scale up best practices to the national, regional and global level.”
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is quoted as saying:
“Our partnership with the Global Plastics Action Partnership will bring together new and existing efforts to spark off innovation and achieve progress at a tremendous scale…Our success will propel Ghana to emerge as a regional leader on the issue of plastic pollution reduction and inspire other nations to act through sharing our knowledge and lessons. Ultimately, we hope that this will mark the beginning of a new era of action on plastic waste and pollution across the African continent.”
Kenya and Tanzania are among 60 other countries that have banned or partially banned single-use plastic bags.
They have also made a formal commitment to phase out single-use non-biodegradable plastics.
The non-biodegradable plastics have been identified by the United Nations as one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.
Of the 9 billion tonnes of plastic the world has produced, only 9 percent has been recycled, the UN has estimated.
The World Economic Forum on Africa is taking place on 4-6 September in Cape Town, South Africa, under the theme “Shaping Inclusive Growth and Shared Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.
The meeting will convene more than 1,000 regional and global leaders from government, business, civil society and academia.