Ghana is prepared for any oil spill emergency - EPA

Ghana has no issue presently with spillage, but equipment, personnel and inter-operability mechanisms among sector players place Ghana on a high pedestal for future crisis management.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the many simulation exercises and observation of best practices around the globe give Ghana a proper stand to manage any oil spill issues.

The EPA was also developing an environmental Management Policy to guide some new development in the oil and gas sector.

Mr Kwadwo Opoku-Mensah, Deputy Director of the Western Regional EPA at a roundtable on Environmental Governance in the Oil Sector organised by the Friends of the Nation, said the policy was currently at a draft stage.

The EPA, he added, was working on identifying more Marine protected areas and other conservation plans underway to save the Marine space.

The Deputy Director of the Western EPA said social and cultural protection of the environment must also begin to be a major concern to all stakeholders.

In the meantime, stakeholders during the meeting called for more education on existing laws, a more harmonised legislation system and some attention on the gas sector.

Issues discussed included the legal regime, institutional arrangement for improved management, liability regime, challenges and opportunities for civil societies to engage to promote compliance.