By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Accra, May 30, GNA – A total of 27 hectares of degraded land made up of mangroves and woodlots in the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site of the Volta Region have been restored by six communities.
The communities are Galotse, Bomingo, Galo, Galosota, Bomingo, Anyanui, and Agbledomi.
So far, 84,000 seedlings of different tree species such as Rhizohpora (white) and Avicenia (red) mangroves, Acacia, Cacia, and mahogany have been transplanted and nurtured in the various areas.
Mr Lawrence Tetteh Ocloo, the Manager of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission at Keta Lagoon told the Ghana News Agency that the initiative was one of the critical activities towards sustainability of their source of fuel and the protection of the ecology.
“What compelled members of these communities, especially those whose livelihood depends on the resources to willingly engage in the regenerative activity is that they realized they were getting low harvest of many of the fisheries resources. So, a sensitization on the happenings motivated them,” he said.
Mr Ocloo noted that nurturing of mangroves was one of the key nature-based solutions that could help address the three planetary issues, climate change, biological diversity, and pollution through the absorption of greenhouse gases.
“Studies and practice have shown that mangroves’ biggest strengths lie in their ability to capture and store carbon,” he said.
Mangroves, he explained, served many purposes including the protection of coastal areas, conserving marine biodiversity, providing habitat for spawning, and nutrients for a variety of fish and shellfish.
Mr Anthony Adeea Mba, Project Assistant at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Ghana Project Office told the GNA that the restoration initiative was part of the Management of Mangroves Forest from Senegal to Benin project implemented through Small Grants by A Rocha Ghana, Kasa Initiative and The Development Institute.
The goal of the project he said was to strengthen the management of protected areas and unprotected mangrove sites through enhanced linkages between governance and production systems.
Mr Mba noted it was to ensure that mangrove conservation structures were enhanced for integrated protection of mangroves diversity and ecosystems in West Africa to build resilience to climate change.
Funded by the European Union, the project is also being implemented in nine countries including Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, and Benin funds the Project.
This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development
GNA