FORUM PROJECT HANDED OVER (Page 40)

Story: Tim Dzamboe, Ho

A Natural resource and environmental governance programme, a multi-lateral project on best practices for environmental protection, is set to start in the country under the leadership of the World Bank and development partners.
It is a sector budget support assistance to the government of Ghana aimed at promoting forest management, protection of forest resources from bush fires, plantation establishment, and natural regeneration, among others.
The chief executive of the Forestry Commission, Professor Nii Ashie Kotey, announced this at Ho last Thursday at the handover of the Forest Resource and Management (FORUM) project, undertaken jointly by the Ghana and German governments in the Volta Region for the past 15 years.
He said development partners expected to support the project included the British Department for International Development (DFID), the Dutch government, the European Union, the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA), Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA) and a French government agency.
Professor Kotey said all the components of the FORUM project would be adopted for the next five years and called on all local and expatriate workers on the project to ensure that the benefits were secured and sustained.
He also said the Forestry Commission would use internally generated funds to support education, suppression and prevention of wild fires and said part of the projected revenue of about GH¢40 million to be generated this year would be sunk into the project.
The country director of the German Technical Co-operation, Ms Marita Brommelmeier, disclosed that 13 million Euros was injected into the project.
She stressed the need for nations to protect the environment in view of the increasing threat posed by global climate change.
Ms Brommelmeier called for the sustainability of the project to ensure consistent dissemination of learning experiences, adding that its success could form the thrust for poverty alleviation in the society.
In an address read on his behalf, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, said the project had increased forest cover in the forest reserves from 6400 hectares in 1996 to 14, 212 hectares by 2007.
He also noted that the 600 hectares of woodlots that existed in 1993 increased to 5,817 hectares by 2007 in addition to the employment of 10,000 people with 3,500 households benefiting from improved agricultural practices.
Mr Dzamesi expressed the desire that the success story could be replicated in the Agumatsa Waterfall Rehabilitation and Development Project, designed to rehabilitate the vegetation cover of the catchment area of the Wli Waterfalls.
He said the waterfall was the only one in the West Africa sub-region emanating from the highest point ever and this made its tourism potential huge, which will impact positively on the income, livelihood and standard of living of the people living in the project area and beyond.
The Volta Regional Manager of the Forestry Services Division, Mr Winfred Bimah, thanked the German government for the cooperation, adding that there was mutual understanding between the two partners in making proposals, decision making, monitoring and control of the project.
He said friendship also developed between the communities and project staff, which hitherto were perceived as antagonistic, and legal knowledge on forest issues had also been enhanced.
In a testimony, the chief of Asato Gyamonome in the Kadjebi District, Nana Amoah Nyarku, said the project had helped to improve the micro-climate, ensure reduction in slope erosion, the return of endangered species, enhance the potential for ecotourism and above all, instil a sense of ownership in the people.