Did you know that GRID and NEA have facilitated the protection of over 250 km of the Black Volta river in Ghana? By organizing a team of over six hundred volunteers, we have been able to virtually eliminate the use of chemicals and illegal nets on this stretch of the river. Fishermen are noticing a return in the quantity of fish that they are catching, and are even seeing some species of fish that they had believed were extinct. We’re excited to hear this, and excited to think that poisoned fish are appearing less frequently in the markets.
We have plans to expand this protection another 40 km along the main river. We should point out that for every kilometer of the main river that we protect, there are at least as many kilometers tributaries that we also protect. This means that by the end of 2011, we hope to see 290km of the main river protected, and 350 km of its tributaries similarly protected.
On the map below, you can see highlighted in blue the waterways that we have been able to protect. The waterways highlighted in purple are those that we hope to protect by 2011.
Use the hyperlink at the bottom of the map to see a larger version of it.
View NEA Program in a larger map