By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Paga (U/E), Nov 10, GNA – Stakeholders have met to deliberate and review governance documents for one of the Community Resources Management Areas (CREMAs) in the Kassena-Nankana West District to improve natural resources management and protection.
The participants, mainly actors in the natural resources management and environmental protection chain, reviewed the Constitution, bye laws and management plan of the Sanyiga Kassena Gavara Kara (SKGK) CREMA.
It was to update the governance documents to include issues that were relevant to the current situation with regard to natural resources management to help improve regulations and address challenges confronting the CREMA to function appropriately.
It was organised by the Organisation for Indigenous Initiatives and Sustainability (ORGIIS) with funding support from the NOE, a French-based organisation and the European Union Commission.
It brought together the CREMA Executive Committee of SKGK, the Forestry Commission, Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, the Ghana National Fire Service, traditional authorities and the District Assembly, among others.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Julius Atudeku Awaregya, the Executive Director of ORGIIS, said his organisation and other partners had been working with the communities in the Upper East and Upper West Regions, especially along the Western Wildlife Corridor through the CREMA concept to protect and manage the natural resources.
He said the Constitution, bye laws and management plan that empowered the communities under the CREMA concept to effectively manage, regulate arrest and prosecute people involved in environmental destruction needed to be updated to correspond to current trends of environmental issues.
The Executive Director explained that climate change had become a big issue globally and locally and had adversely affected the livelihoods of many communities, particularly the vulnerable and there was the urgent need to address natural resources and environment destruction, to help people adapt to the climatic variabilities.
Addressing such challenges through environmental protection, he said, would not only contribute to preserving and empowering the communities but would contribute to achieving global targets on environment and climate change.
“This will help to contribute to the government of Ghana’s goals of greening the nation, ECOWAS protocol of developing green belt within the ECOWAS sub- region, African Union agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.
Mr Awaregya said apart from increasing community participation in the natural resources management, which helped to reduce destruction, through the CREMA concept a lot of livelihood interventions such as business opportunities and export of natural commodities like baobab and shea butter among others had been beneficial to the people.
“We have created over 1,000 jobs within the landscape out of these resources and if not because these resources are available, these economic opportunities would not have come,” he added.
He said population growth, influx of Fulani herdsmen and lack of jobs for the youth were challenges confronting the effective management of the natural resources and called on the law enforcement agencies, especially those in the environmental protection chain to work together to help address the challenges.
Mr Joseph Kwasi Binlinla, the Upper East Regional Wildlife Manager, indicated that the CREMA concept had contributed to protecting and managing the natural resources, especially within the Western Wildlife Corridor and called on stakeholders to help address issues of illegal harvesting of the natural resources.
Pe Oscar Batabi Tiyiamu, the Paramount Chief of Kayoro Traditional Area, noted that apart from population growth leading to more demand for land for agriculture and construction purposes, lack of jobs compelled people to rely on the natural resources for survival.
He, therefore, appealed for sustainable livelihoods to be rolled out in the communities to help reduce their dependence on natural resources.
GNA