Akosombo (E/R), Sept. 7 GNA - Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, on Thursday charged the new Commissioners of the Board of the Forestry Commission to devise strategies that would help to regenerate the fast dwindling forest resources. He said by putting in place the appropriate strategies towards the regeneration and sustainable management of the forest resources, livelihoods would be improved and lead to a reduction in poverty in line with Government's Growth and Poverty-Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II). Prof Fobih was speaking at the opening of a three-day induction workshop for the new Board of Commissioners of the Forestry Commission at Akosombo.
The workshop is to allow for interaction among the Commissioners, Management, Industry and Trade Associations, Civil Society and Chiefs. Prof Fobih said the issues of revenue to the Commission had come under serious threat by industry and landowners in recent times and, therefore, appealed to the Commissioners to come out with a workable financial framework for the Commission to improve its finances. He said it was Government's expectation that with improvement in the finances of the Commission more revenue would be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
Prof Fobih said although a restructuring programme for the Commission had been ongoing for the last five years aimed at building capacity to better implement the mandate to protect and sustainable manage and develop the forest and wildlife resources, there was still more to be done.
"The challenge to you as a Board will be to integrate the former institutions into a harmonized organization to carry out its mandate. "This restructuring has been done in the past with the support of donors, which has unfortunately seen a dramatic reduction. "The completion of the restructuring process will, therefore, have to be undertaken using internally generated funds and this will no doubt have some financial implications and also pose a major challenge to the Commission," he said.
He entreated the Commissioners to revise the Forestry Master Plan, which was devised 10 years ago, defining the direction the forestry sector should go, to reflect the current global developments and challenges.
The revision in the Master Plan Prof Fobih noted should take into account the increasing demand for timber to be sources from sustainable sources as well as the lead role that Ghana had assumed in the African Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Initiative.
Mr John Otoo, Acting Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, urged the Commissioners to help to resolve the impasse between the timber industry and the Forestry Commission regarding the non-payment of the three per cent Export Levy that had lingered on for the past 10 months.
He said this impasse had affected the Commissions revenue flow resulting in its inability to undertake most of its operational activities.
Mr Otoo said the relations with stakeholders was critical and needed to be managed to ensure that there was effective communication to allow the stakeholders to better understand the operations of the Commission as well as for the Commission to serve the interest of Stakeholder better.
