Stakeholders in environmental sustainability are calling for urgent measures to tackle the fast depletion of the country’s natural resources especially in forest reserves.
They expressed the concern at a land use dialogue meeting on the Mole Ecological Landscape earlier this week.
The dialogue was organized by A Rocha Ghana in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN Ghana), and The Forest Dialogue (TFD) under the “Stabilizing Land Use Project (PLUS).”
The project is to ensure integrated and participatory landscape management strategies through engaging private and public stakeholders for sustainable utilization and management of resources in the landscape.
The National Director of A Rocha Ghana, Dr. Seth Ken Appiah-Kubi, said the Mole landscape is endowed with lots of natural resources however the rate at which the resources are being depleted is alarming.
He said unsustainable activities like illegal logging, charcoal production, and unsustainable farming activities among others had serious effects on the Mole ecology.
“Although people’s livelihoods are tied to these very activities; we are all thriving on the resources given to us by God, therefore there is the urgent need for us to consciously plan to use these resources in such a manner that, it does not serve us only today, but tomorrow as well as serving our future generation,” Dr. Appiah-Kubi said.
He further expressed optimism that the Wildlife bill when passed will give the legal backing to Community Resources Management Areas (CREMAS) to protect their own lands aside the protected lands with legal supports.
Dr. Seth Ken Appiah-Kubi, therefore, appealed to Parliament to speed up the process to pass the bill.
The District Chief Executive for West Gonja District, Saeed Muhazu Jibril who reiterated the district assemblies’ commitment towards sustainable natural resources in the landscape said the assembly is committed to the government’s efforts to ensure environmental sustainability through the ban on logging, transportation and export of rosewood in Gonjaland.
Stakeholders at the dialogue among other things stressed that traditional authorities should be empowered to enhance management of the Mole landscape.
Land Use Dialogue is a global initiative coordinated by The Forest Dialogue secretariat and steering committee members in collaboration with local and global partners.