Start up - Saving The Lagoone at Old Ningo

On October 12th our Eco-School team will be joining the Old Ningo SHS´s start up workshop on how the Eco-School methodology can be used to to restore the Dzange  Lagoon.

 

Alongside 37% of the global population the people of Old Ningo live in a coastal community where the oceans as well as the marine and coastal resources play a crusial role in both human well-being and social and economical development. However, those resources are extremely vulnerable to environmental degradation, overfishing, climate change and pollution.



Since the industrial revolution in the 19th century the biological diversity in the oceans has decreased dramaticly. The destruction of habitats by trawler fishing, pollution and eutrophication of the seas, as well as the steady progress of climate change are some of the primary causes for the losses.

Every ecosystem performs certain functions that are critically important for organisms. One of the most important functions of marine ecosystems is the production of plant biomass from sunlight and nutrients (primary productivity), which represents the basic food source for all life in the ocean, and ultimately also for humans.

Therfore both the pollution of land and sea is a great treath for many coastal regions. In addition, since river basins, marine ecosystems and the atmosphere are all part of hydrological systems, the effects of such pollution are often felt far from their source. However, as elswere in Ghana, Old Ningo currently also causes waste and plastics polution of different kinds, filled with a variety of toxins to float ashore, filling the Lagoon. This development is not only a treat to the biodiversity itself. It is a fundamental treat to our livelyhood for our future generations, in Ningo it is a treat to the main source of income-the fisheries. But the Lagoon and its fishermen also face another problem, erosion.

To prohibit the erosion the Mangrove tree is and has been essential but now they are experiencing the loss of these trees. Mangroves are shrubs or small trees that grow in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves are salt tolerant trees, also called halophytes, and are adapted to life in harsh coastal conditions. They contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope with salt water immersion and wave action. The tree is crusial to sustaining the livelyhood of the people living near the lagoon. Our aim is to involve the SHS students in Ningo to replant and sustain the mangrove trees.

Eco-Schools Ghana work towards the achievment of UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We use a combination of the goals. OUR APPROACH SPECIFICALLY USES number 17 "Partnership for the goals"  and  on biodiversity in and around the oceans, and how the decrease in spicies affects the people who live in coastal areas alongside trying to maintain the perservation and protection of the oceans.


 Sources:
http://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/marine-ecosystem/biodiversity/