By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Tongo (U/E), Dec 24, GNA – Mr Sumaila S. Saaka, the Executive Director of the Forum for Natural Regeneration (FONAR), an environmentally focused organisation, has noted with concern that children are both victims and perpetrators of land degradation, particularly in the northern part of Ghana.
He said children herd cattle far into the bush for grazing when feed near home was scarce and were exposed to different kinds of risk, including animal bites, harm by cattle raiders, and not attending school, among others, and sometimes lead in the cutting of trees and removing stumps during farmland clearing.
That, he said necessitated the need for their capacities as stewards to be built to understand the dangers and challenges associated with deforestation, environmental degradation, and climate change to be able to champion the restoration of degraded lands.
Mr. Saaka made the remarks when he addressed stakeholders at an inception meeting in Talensi as part of the implementation of the Regreening Communities through School Kids Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Eco-Clubs in Talensi District of the Upper East Region, Northern Ghana Project, spanning from now till December 2026.
The Director emphasised that the implementation of the project would empower children and teachers to contribute actively to local landscape re-greening actions and increase wider community awareness on the importance of trees and the need for sustaining FMNR practices for improved livelihood.
Aside from this, he said children have the right of access to accurate and reliable environmental information, including information about the causes, effects, and actual and potential sources of environmental harm, as well as the effects and the implementation of the project guarantees just that.
The Executive Director expressed gratitude to the Heidehof Foundation of Germany and Awaken Trees Foundation, Austria, for funding the project.
Madam Christina Azure, the Talensi District Director of Education, in her welcome address, said the project aligned with the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) shared vision of re-greening communities and fostering sustainable practices among children.
She charged the stakeholders, including head teachers and School Improvement Support Officers (SISO), to offer full support to FONAR for the successful implementation of the project.
The project aimed at expanding the coverage of FONAR’s innovative Talensi school kids eco clubs initiative in Northern Ghana by mobilising school kids in 10 rural public basic schools and
teachers through eco clubs to sustain FMNR practices in farming villages through bottom-up knowledge creation, sharing, and action.
GNA