Every rainy season, Accra holds its breath. Streets become rivers. Cars float. Lives are lost. And every dry season, the bulldozers return to the Sakumo Ramsar site, knocking down homes that should never have been built there. We are caught in a destructive cycle: encroachment, demolition, displacement — and still, the floods come.
It is time to ask a harder question. What if demolition is not the answer? What if the Sakumo wetland, far from being a liability, is the most valuable piece of climate infrastructure Greater Accra owns?
What’s at Stake
The Sakumo Ramsar Site, designated on 14 August 1992, covers 1,364 hectares along the coastal road west of Tema. The open lagoon fluctuates dramatically — from about 100 hectares in the dry season to 350 hectares during the rains. Past records document more than seventy waterbird species and an estimated 30,000 individual birds at peak season. BirdLife International has designated it an Important Bird Area.
By the time it was formally gazetted in 1992, roughly one third of the originally proposed area had already been swallowed by housing estates. Today, around 50 percent of the core area has been encroached upon.
Re-engineering, Not Surrender
The Ramsar Convention does not require wetlands to remain untouched — it requires “wise use.” A serious re-engineering programme would achieve several objectives: strategic dredging to increase water-holding capacity, restored hydrological connectivity through engineered channels, constructed wetlands to treat stormwater and industrial effluent, and floating wetlands to expand habitat without requiring additional land.
Global Precedents That Work
Singapore’s Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve thrives within one of the densest urban environments on earth. Hong Kong’s Mai Po Ramsar site borders some of the most expensive real estate in Asia. London transformed disused Victorian reservoirs into the London Wetland Centre, lifting surrounding property values. Accra would not be experimenting — we would be catching up.
The Economics Are Compelling
Floods cost Accra hundreds of millions of cedis annually. International evidence shows that well-managed urban wetlands raise adjacent property values by 8–25%. Coastal wetlands sequester carbon at rates several times higher than tropical forests. Tourism, fisheries restoration, and climate resilience add further value.
Financing the Vision
A Sakumo Wetland Trust could draw on developer contributions, Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund grants, African Development Bank financing, blue carbon credits, municipal green bonds, insurance sector co-investment, and industrial polluter levies. The current approach — demolition — is the most expensive option dressed up as the cheapest.
Sakumo can continue to be a national embarrassment or a continental showcase. Perhaps it’s time for a different, more sustainable approach.
