The Environmental Protection Authority, (EPA Ghana) is an authority established by EPA Act 490, 1994 (which was an Agency] but later repealed and replaced with the Environmental Protection Act, 2025 [becoming an authority].
The EPA was established under the Environmental Protection Authority Act ,2025 (Act 1124) as the leading public body responsible for the protection and improvement of the environment in ghana. It is responsible for enforcing environmental policy and legislation, prescribing standards and guidelines,inspecting and regulating businesses and responding to emergency incidents.
The authority is dedicated to improving, conserving and promoting the country's environment and striving for environmentally sustainable development with sound, efficient resource management, taking into account social and equity issues. It oversees the implementation of the National Environment Policy.Ministry of Environment Science and Technology, ″National Environmental Policy 2012″, Accra, Ghana. EPA Ghana's mission is to manage, protect and enhance the country's environment and seek common solutions to global environmental problems. Its mission is to be achieved through an integrated environmental planning and management system with broad public participation, efficient implementation of appropriate programs and technical services, advice on environmental problems and effective, consistent enforcement of environmental law and regulations. EPA Ghana is a regulatory body and a catalyst for change to sound environmental stewardship.
The authority began during a time of growing concern about the dangers to the environment from careless activities of men, prompting the United Nations to convene a conference in Stockholm about the environment in June 1972. Guidelines for action were adopted at the conference, including the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The decision to establish the Environment Protection Council was a direct result of the recommendations of the Stockholm Conference. Before this decision, Ghana was elected by the General Assembly to the Governing Council of 58 nations set up to administer the affairs of the UNEP.
Before the Stockholm conference, Ghana had felt the need for environmental protection and prepared the ground for a body to deal with environmental matters in the country. Several organizations had begun initiatives in environmental work; the best-known were: The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, established as the local counterpart of the international body of the same name The Conservation Committee of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) The Ghana Working Group on the Environment, an informal group of scientists united by a common concern about environmental matters National Committee on the Human Environment, formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971 as a result of concern expressed by the Economic Commission for Africa and the Organisation of African Unity about the need to conserve and protect Africa's natural resources
Environmental Protection Council history The Environmental Protection Council (EPC) was established by the National Redemption Council government led by Ignatius Kutu Acheampong. On 23 May 1973, the Government of the National Redemption Council announced the establishment of an Environmental Protection Council under Chairmanship of Professor E.A Boateng, first vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Coast. On 23 January 1974 the head of state signed NRC Decree 239, establishing the Environmental Protection Council. On 4 June, the Environmental Protection Council was established by attorney general; Edward Nathaniel Moore on behalf of the Commissioner of Economic Planning.
E. A. Boateng E. A. Boateng, the council's first chair,Environmental Protection Council ″Annual Report 1974-75″ Accra Ghana began work in a temporary office at the headquarters of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Airport Residential Area in Accra. His secretary was F. K. A. Jiagge and he had ten junior staff, including a stenographer, two clerks, three drivers, a receptionist, a messenger and a night watchman. Two senior staff later joined the EPC: Joyce Aryee and Clement Dorme–Adzobu. The council, made up of 16 members from government, organizations and universities, included E. Lartey (Council for Science and Industrial Research), D. M. Mills (Attorney General's Department), E. G. Beausoleil (Ministry of Health), S. K. P. Kanda (Ministry of Industries), B. K. Nketsia (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), M. Nicholas (Ministry of Agriculture), J. W. Boateng, (Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation), A. Odjidja (Ghana Tourist Control Board), F. A. A. Acquaah (Meteorological Services Department), J. Bentum-Williams (Ministry of Land and Mineral Resources), P. N. K. Turkson (Ministry of Works and Housing), S. Al-Hassan M. K. Adu Badu (government representatives).EPC ″Annual Report for 1974-75″ Accra, Ghana. The EPC was part of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. It moved from its temporary offices at Council for Science and Industrial Research headquarters to the Ministry of Works and Housing and then to Old Parliament House, where it remained until its 1978 move to the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation building. Construction of a permanent council headquarters began at the ministry in 1979, and it was completed in 1994.
B. W. Garbrah Garbrah was appointed acting executive EPC chair in 1981. The council became part of the Ministry of Health, since it was thought that it would work better aligned with the health sector.
During a 1982 drought, the council focused its attention on tree planting and there was a national reforestation campaign in the wake of deforestation from 1972 into the 1980s.EPA (2004), State of Environment Report, Accra, Ghana. The EPC moved to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to work with district assemblies to ensure environmental sustainability. In 1983, the government introduced a National Bushfire Campaign to minimize the bushfires occurring throughout the country. The council conducted sensitization programmes, and officers traveled throughout the country to minimise bushfire occurrence in collaboration with district assemblies and the Ghana National Fire Service.
Christine Debrah Debrah was appointed executive chair of the EPC in 1985. She opened regional offices to bring environmental protection closer to the people, particularly in northern Ghana. The Northern Regional Office in Tamale, headed by Edward M. Telly, opened in 1988 and work began on more offices. Debrah emphasised environmental education, contributing to the debate on climate change.Debrah, Lt. Col. Christine (Rtd), 1989, Address to the Conference on Implications of Climate Change for Africa, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA, 5 May 1989. Her staff attended international conferences to deliberate on, and find solutions to, global and national environmental problems. For her contributions, Debrah was listed on the UNEP Global 500 Roll of Honour and is a member of the Climate Institute's board of advisors.
Franciska Issaka In 1990, Franciska Issaka was appointed acting chair of the EPC. She continued its expansion, employing more staff and in 1991 opening the Upper West Regional Office in Wa headed by John Pwamang. Issaka ensured that all the regional offices had permanent locations.
The council brought together environmentalists and academicians to draft the 1991 National Environmental Action Plan,EPC, ″National Environmental Action Plan″, Vol. I, 1991, Accra, Ghana. which was later adopted by the government. A number of international environmental protocols were ratified at this time, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (signed in 1992 and ratified in 1994) and the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (signed in 1992). The National Ozone Office was established as part of the EPC in 1991 to end the import of ozone-depleting substances by the country after Ghana ratified the Montreal Protocol in 1989.
Council to authority
After the 1992 constitution and national election, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)government of Jerry John Rawlings created the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology the following year. A national environmental policy was produced, and the council was moved into the ministry to implement it. In June 1993 a five-year Ghana Environmental Resource Management project, sponsored by the World Bank, was begun to ensure staff infrastructure. The authority expanded, and by December 1993 six regional offices were in operation: Western, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Northern and Upper West. The following year, three additional regional offices opened: Central, Greater Accra and Brong Ahafo.
On 30 December 1994, the Environmental Protection Council became the Environmental Protection authority in Act 490. The act empowered the authority to legally prosecute environmental offences and sue for breaches of the law. A 13-member management board, headed by Arnold Quainoo, was established.Roger Goking (2005). The History of Ghana, Green Wood Histories of Modern Nations.
Peter Acquah
Peter Claver Acquah was appointed acting executive director of EPA Ghana in 1994, and the authority completed its integrated coastal-zone management strategyArmah, A. K., D. S. Amlalo (1998). Coastal Zone Profile of Ghana. Ministry of Environment, Science & Technology/Large Marine Ecosystems Project of the Gulf of Guinea. Vii + 111pp. for Ghana 1997. In September 1997, the United Nations Environment Programme gave an "outstanding national ozone unit award" to EPA Ghana in recognition of its efforts in implementing the Montreal Protocol. The Tarkwa Office was opened as part of the Western Regional Office to oversee mining problems in 1999, with Michael Sandow Ali its first head.
That year, a strategic plan was producedEnvironmental Protection Agency (1999), Five Year Strategic Plan 1999 to 2003, Accra, Ghana. to guide the authority's activities. In November 2000, the Capacity Development and Linkages for Environmental Impact Assessment in Africa (CLEIAA) project began.CLEIAA (2004), Towards Development of a Professional Register of Core Environmental Assessment Practitioners and specialists is sub Sahara Africa Acquah opened the Tema office, headed by Yaw Safo Afriyie and later by Lambert Faabeloun, in 2001 before his resignation that year.
Jonathan Allotey Allotey was appointed acting executive director in October 2001 by President John Kufour, whose National Patriotic Party won the 2000 elections. Allotey, former director of the Regional Programmes Division, was the first staff member to become head of the authority.
The government placed the authority under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. A management board was appointed, chaired by Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin II the Okyenhene of the Kyebi traditional area.
In 2001, a school opened in Amasaman for training national and international experts in environmental management. A mining reclamation bond was posted, so mining companies do not have to post a bond; if a company fails to reclaim a mine site, funds can be released for reclamation.
Allotey led the team which produced a National Action Programme to Combat Drought.Environmental Protection Agency (2002), National Action Programme to Combat Drought. Accra, Ghana. The Ghana Technology Transfer Needs Assessment Report, introduced in 2005, was also produced by the authority's climate change adaptation programmeEPA (2004), Ghana: State of Environment Report, 2004, Accra, Ghana. which was launched by the Minister in with a team of experts preparing an atlas of the coast.EPA (2005), Environmental Sensitivity Atlas for the coastal areas of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.