Communities in Upper West to restore degraded lands

WA, Dec. 17, GNA - Thirty communities in the Upper West Region which are beneficiaries of the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP) has each embarked on the restoration of 100 hectares of degraded land in their communities. The restoration involves the promotion of non bush burning, establishment of community reserves on the earmarked land and also the adoption of innovations that had been spelt out in the implementation of the project.

Mr. Asher Nkegbe, Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, said this at Wa during a one-day workshop on the GEMP and the National Action Programme to combat desertification and drought for stakeholders in the region.

GEMP is a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded project designed by the Government of Ghana to find lasting solution to desertification in the country. The project seeks to achieve this goal by strengthening Ghanaian institutions and rural communities to enable them to reverse land degradation and desertification in the three regions of northern Ghana. It would also promote adoption of sustainable water and land management systems to improve food security and reduce poverty in the three regions.

To ensure the sustainability of the project, Mr. Nkegbe said the communities that were implementing the project have called for the establishment of six central nurseries for seedling production in the region and alternative livelihood support programmes to enable them generate incomes. He said 76 community environmental management committees have been formed in the region and there was an indication that more communities wanted to get involved in the implementation of the project.