Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
the nexus between environmental law enforcement and SDGs in Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/2179-3565.2022v13i4p135-145Keywords:
Environmental law, enforcement, sustainable development goalsAbstract
The environment plays a vibrant role in sustaining human life such that without a suitable environment, humans will find it difficult to survive. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana mandates an excellent and healthy environment for all. Hence, it’s a human right that must be upheld and needs a collective effort to sustain it. Thus, the state, government, and stakeholders must protect and manage the environment to implement sustainable development. The Ghanaian environment can support Ghanaians in line with implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs have since 2015 become the regulating framework driving global development discussions. This paper examines the nexus between environmental law enforcement and implementing SDGs in Ghana. The researchers adopted a complete interpretative document analysis for this study, which showed the careful but rigorous investigation of environmental law enforcement and SDGs. This technique confirmed the genuineness of the information studied and interpreted in the study. The study found that environmental law enforcement and the implementation of SDGs in Ghana are directly linked. Thus, the regulation aligns with the goals of 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the SDGs directly associated with environmental sustainability. Also, environmental law enforcement in Ghana through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning Environmental Protection and Management is protective and suppressive. This study further unravels that a supervisory outline is mandatory to enable sustainable development within Ghana’s environmental protection and law enforcement issues and to guarantee its alignment with SDGs. This should be established based on the participation of stakeholders. As a result, the researchers recommend that the government establish strong management and accountability in sustainable development by measuring, supervising, revising, and evaluating their growth towards meeting SDGs in environmental issues geared towards achieving SDG targets and frequently communicating their development to the public.
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