The Project Manager of Tropenbos Ghana, an organization working to increase forest cover and promote climate-resilient practices, Mr. Daniel Kofi Abu, has suggested the formation of more governance structures to help curb the challenges of forest depletion and climate challenges in Ghana.
According to him, Ghana is fast becoming vulnerable to climate impacts, making it critical to adopt smart measures to avert any future disasters in its relations.
The Project Manager made these observations in Nkoranza when his outfit inaugurated a board to manage landscape challenges within the transitional area.
The board christened ‘Landscape Management Board’ (LMB) targets conserving biodiversity, building climate resilience, and reducing emissions from land-use changes in Ghana. The project was founded by the European Union.
In his remarks during the inauguration of the board in Nkoranza, the Project Manager of Tropenbos Ghana, Daniel Kofi Abu indicated, that Ghana is fast losing the significance of its landscapes through climate harsh relatives.
He said, the transition landscape in Ghana faces exponential damage posing serious risks to its ecosystem and called for immediate measures to address it.
“We believe that the way forward is to develop a smart landscape governance, that’s why we are forming a landscape board to execute some of these development initiatives,” he disclosed.
Mr. Daniel Abu also said, “Key among the project objectives of our project is promoting climate-smart landscape by using governance structures.”
For her part, the Deputy Forestry Manager for Nkoranza North and South forests zone, Madam Hannah Marrie lauded the move by Tropenbos Ghana and Ecocare Ghana in setting up a board to assist them.
She recounted the government’s strive to stem desertification in the country.
According to her, the Green Ghana project of government is a clear example of the government’s commitment to replacing the lost forest cover, but quickly bemoaned the activities of herdsmen and chainsaw operators which poses a grave threat to their efforts.
Madam Hannah Marrie revealed, that although her outfit has managed to chalk some successes in the government’s tree planting exercise in 2021, the activities of the new Landscape Management Board are earnestly needed.
“Last year, during the tree planting exercise, we were able to achieve a success rate of 85 percent out of the 52,000 trees we planted. Our main challenge has been the lack of vehicles and illegal activities of herdsmen, we believe our collaboration with the new LMB will help us to fight our course,” She said
The Landscapes Management Board is expected to achieve significant milestones in agriculture and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers within the transition landscape.
