7 Air Pollution Control Conventions, Laws and Regulations

Ghana is signatory to a number of international conventions with respect to the

control, abatement and reduction of air pollution. Notable among these are :

a. Vienna convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (22.03.2003)

b. Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer
(16.09.1987)

In both cases there is a provision (or clause) for developing countries like Ghana that
specifies that in cases where that annual calculated consumption of the controlled
substances is less than 0,3 kg per capita on the date of entry into force of the
protocol, these countries will have the option to delay the compliance with the
controlled measures set out in the relevant paragraphs by a total of 20 years. Any
such country shall be entitled to use the average of its annual calculated level of
consumption of 0,3 kg per capita, whichever is the lower, as the basis for its
compliance with the control measures.

It further indicates that the respective Parties shall undertake to facilitate access to
environmentally safe alternative substances and technology for Parties that are
developing countries and assist them to make expeditious use of such technologies.

There is also a provision that stipulates that the Parties shall undertake to facilitate
bilaterally or multilaterally the provision of subsidies, aid, credits, guarantees or
insurance programmes to Parties that are developing countries for the use of
alternative technology and for substitute products.

As a matter of fact, a considerable quantity of the ozone depleting substances are

imported in equipment and gadgets from the industrialized countries into the
developing countries. Among these are old cars and particularly old refrigerators as
well as sprays and fire extinguishers which are either not in use or have been banned
in the industrialised countries. In effect there is a transfer of the pollutants into the
developing countries.

The task or challenge for the developing countries is therefore to enact and enforce
laws and regulations that will serve to limit or ban the importation of the ozone
depleting substances.

In Ghana, available data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), quote a
drastic reduction of the ozone depleting substances (ODP) from 101,4 tonnes in
1991 to 22 tonnes ODP in 2002 while the foam industries account for the reduction of
24 tonnes in 1996. Persistent problems here are the lack of regulations on ODP and
awareness creation programmes to educate and sensitize the populace on the
importance of the ozone layer.

7.1 National Policy Framework

In 1972, there was a United Nations Conference on Human Environment in

Stockholm, Sweden. This conference was the first international gathering on the
environment. Principle 17 of this conference led to the formation of the Environmental
Protection in 1972. The functions of the then EPC excluded regulatory and
enforcement responsibilities. The inadequacy of the merely advisory role of the EPC
led to various amendments, for instance the EPC Amendment Decree 1976 (SMCD
58).

There has been a global shift with regard to national environmental management
since Rio. Consistent with global trend and in the context of the new EPA Act of
1994, Act 490, the Environmental Protection Agency was reconstituted and
reorganised.
The Government of Ghana through an act of parliament (Act 1994) requires the
Environmental Protection Agency to facilitate a cooperative national approach to the
environment with a better definition of the roles of government agencies.
This act seeks among other functions to control the volumes, type, constituents and
effects of waste discharges, emissions, deposits or other sources of pollutants and /
or substances which are hazardous or potentially dangerous to the quality of life,
human health and the environment through the issuance of environmental permits
and pollution abatement notices.

The main agenda for the EPA started with the preparation and implementation of the
Ghana Environmental Action Plan (GEAP). This plan identified all the critical
environmental issues in Ghana and recommended actions to address them. Six
expert committees formed as part of the GEAP provided data and information for the
formulation of a National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP). The NEAP was
completed and adopted in 1991 by Government.

To operationalise the plan, the Ghana Environmental Resource Management Project

(GERMP) was designed to support the implementation of NEAP. By 1998, the EPA
has established four monitoring stations to measure air quality in major sectors to
provide data to determine the effect on the community in terms of health impact and
average annual concentrations of air pollutants. These stations are strategically
placed to monitor the levels of pollutants emitted by mobile and stationary sources in
the various types of communities located within residential, commercial, industrial
and the mining sectors.
These air monitors measure the ambient levels of SO2, NO2, CO, Particulate matter
under 10 microns (PM10) and smoke. These parameters are described in some
circles as critical pollutants. The air monitoring units do not measure air toxics
which is a term used to describe a number of air-borne compounds which may have
adverse effects on human health even when then are present in very small amounts.

What is lacking are programmes and equipment that will give the real-time analysis of
air pollutants. It also needs to identify and control air toxics that are discharged into
our air shed. The gases that need to be analysed are Volatile Oganic Compounds
(VOCs), ground ozone and air borne toxic metals. Carbonyl compounds like
aldehydes and ketones, some of which are potentially toxic as well as Polynuclear
Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), which are believed to be carcinogenic, need to be
analysed.