QUESTION 1: CASE STUDY Title: Major Threatening Environmental Problems in Ghanaian Society In November 2016, the Centre for Environmental Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA) published its findings of the Ghana Environmental Concern Meter (GECM), an annual public perception report on environmental protection performance in Ghana. The report revealed that poor sanitation, river body pollution, forest degradation and land degradation are the four most significant environmental problems in the Ghanaian society. The study sampled of 837 residents across 6 regions, whose population represents 68.9 per cent of the Ghanaian population. This study reported that poor sanitation and river body pollutions directly affect 69 per cent and 41 per cent of the Ghanaian public respectively. On poor sanitation, the study found the Greater Accra region to be the most affected, where more than 90 per cent of residents are directly affected by its negative consequences. Again, the study reported that over 50 per cent of residents in the Ashanti region, Northern region, Upper West region, and the Western region are also directly affected by poor sanitation. The Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD) of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, poor sanitation cost Ghana $290 million every year. This cost is incurred as a result of poor sanitation delivery arising from time spent on accessing water and sanitation facilities, deaths due to poor sanitation, exposure to preventable diseases, among others. The EHSD report that in 2014 alone, preventable diseases, including diarrhoea, killed over 4,500 children in Ghana, while cholera killed 247. In the Eastern region where illegal mining (galamsey) has become rampant in recent times, river body pollution was found to be the most threatening environmental problem affecting nearly 75 per cent of the residents. River body pollution again was found to be a major threatening environmental problem in the Ashanti and Western regions where approximately 50 per cent of the residents were reported to be directly affected. Other environmental problems reported to significantly affect the lives of the Ghanaian people include climate change, floods, bush fire, extreme drought, air and noise pollution. Poor spatial planning, the use of dangerous pesticides and herbicides, and loss of common and native biological species were also reported by the study as being environmental problems of public concern. Experts have recommended that the decentralization of environmental policies and programs to the regional and district levels to be the most effective way to address these environmental problems. This recommendation, according to the study is based on the fact that the environmental problems which affect the public are not universal in nature. Regions are faced with different environmental problems at various magnitudes and as a result have different priorities as to which environmental problem should receive public investment and support.In addition, investing in green businesses, expansive and inclusive public environmental education, and smart reclamation of polluted rivers bodies as well as protection of all river bodies in the country were reported by the study as essential requirements to address these environmental problems which affect the Ghanaian people. REQUIRED: i. Identify and explain the negative consequences of any two (2) major causes of poor sanitation in the Ghanaian society. (5 Marks) ii. Identify and explain the negative consequences of any two (2) major causes of river body pollution in Ghanaian society. (5 Marks) iii. With your knowledge in pollution management, discuss any three (3) of the four most significant environmental problems threatening environmental sustainability published by the Centre for Environmental Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA). (15 Marks)