Schools establish clubs to fight desertification

Wa, Aug. 17, GNA - Students and pupils of 30 educational institutions in the Upper West Region have established environmental clubs in their respective schools to sensitize their peers and the public on good environmental practices as their contribution to combating desertification in the Region.

Mr Asher Nkegbe, Acting Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), made this known to newsmen in Wa on Monday at a validation workshop on socio-economic baseline studies carried out by the EPA in some selected communities in the Region.

He said the clubs had started drawing their plans and programmes and that funds were being sourced to implement them through the National Action Plan to combat Desertification.

The workshop which attracted 100 participants from all the nine districts in the Region, was expected to validate studies conducted on land use management, wildlife biodiversity, energy and water resource management among others, in the communities that are piloting the programme to combat desertification.

He said EPA had successfully sensitized the 30 pilot communities where the baseline studies were conducted and that these communities had established Community Environmental Management Committees to fight desertification.

Mr Nkegbe said the capacities of the environmental management committees would be built for them to come out with their own work plans.

Some of the communities are Goziri and Tanchara in the Lawra District, Maase, Talawono and Naaha in the Wa West district and Fian in the Nadowli District.