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(West Gonja municipality) – The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and MP for Damongo, Hon Samuel Abu Jinapor together with the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ghana, H.E Daniel Krull, has on Friday 8th October, 2021 handed over several fire prevention and management equipment to Community Fire Volunteers in six Communities in the Savanna Region.
The Deputy National Director of A rocha Ghana, Mr Daryl Bosu in a welcome address explained that he is excited to see concerted efforts by all in the Landscape to help restore the gradually eroding lush vegetation of the Savannah region due to unsustainable charcoal production and illegal logging.
He commended the minister for lands and natural resources for the commitment seen from his ministry under his leadership in spearheading the green Ghana agenda and urged all to join hands in the fight against illegal activities eroding efforts of government, international development agencies, NGOs, and the private sector towards securing our environment and noted that, the presence of all invited guests to the event is a testimony that when given the necessary knowledge and resources, they can do great things.
The presentation of the equipment and empowerment of the Fire Volunteer Groups in the six communities forms part of the four-year project “Forest Landscape Restoration Through Sustainable Wood Energy Value Chain” funded by the German Federal Ministry for Environment (BMU) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and in
partnership with the Government of Ghana.
Each community fire volunteer received sets wellington boots, tricycles, fire beaters, uniforms, bamboo bicycles, whistles and many others, with an overall value of about GHS 450,000.
The project was launched in early 2019 which aims at contributing to the implementation of Ghana’s National Climate Policy. Already the project has resulted in the establishment of 150 hectares of woodlot plantation in the Savanna Region while 500 hectares of land has been put under an on-going restoration intervention with 150 farmers benefiting through agro-forestry schemes.
Additionally, the project has also undertaken similar activities in the Kintampo and Atebubu areas with 200 hectares of land undergoing restoration and 150 hectares of land planted as woodlots to provide feed stock for
charcoal production.
More than 700,000 seedlings have been planted in the last months and more than 2000 persons mainly women, have been engaged.
In a keynote address, the Hon. Minister for Lands and Natural Resources emphasized on the importance of restoring Ghana’s forest ecosystems particularly the lost vegetation of the Savanna Region, stressing that it is key for our survival and for climate resilience in the face of increasing temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns. He reiterated the commitment of the government of Ghana through several initiatives like the Green Ghana, CREMAs
and clamp down on illegal mining as just a few of the numerous being implemented to address deforestation and forest degradation.
He further reiterated the commitment of the government to partner with like-minded development partners like the German Government and other diplomatic missions, the private sector, NGOs, Youth and Women’s groups to build and restore the lost green
heritage of Ghana. He charged the volunteers and the communities which happens to be in his constituency to work hard to reduce the risk of bush fires and make these investments benefit their
environment for guarantee sustainable livelihoods for all.
The German Ambassador on his part, highlighted the good cooperation between Ghana and Germany and the joint target to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as well as to support the approach of Forest and Landscape Restoration “FLR” as part of the Bonn Challenge where Ghana committed to restore 2 million hectares until 2030.
The sustainable wood fuel and forest landscape restoration project is in partnership with Ghana’s ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Energy and other partner institutions in Ghana are currently training 170 fire volunteers in 12 communities with the support of the Ghana national fire service, the forest research institute ( FORIG) and KNUST. Institutions supporting the implementation of this program are A Rocha Ghana, Tropenbos Ghana, the international union for conservation of nature and the Netherlands Committee of the international union for the conservation of nature.
The event took place at Achubunyor in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savanna Region which witnessed the Presence of community members, Officers of the Municipal Assembly, the Forestry Commission in the Region, Technical Directors from the Ministry of Lands, representatives of the implementation organisations and the leadership of the Busunu Traditional Area.
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