Benito Owusu-Bio (MP), the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in charge of Lands and Forestry, has urged for coordinated and urgent measures to save the environment from further degradation.
", he explained "We are living in difficult times, and our ecology, forests, and water systems require immediate assistance. Because we only have one Ghana, it is incumbent upon all of us to make a difference."
Mr. Owusu-Bio stated this during his opening remarks at the Stakeholder Validation Workshop for the Ghana Forest Investment Programme (GFIP) held in Accra on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
In his remarks to the audience, the Deputy Minister stated that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources believes that cooperation, teamwork, mutual respect, and collaborative effort are the most effective strategies for overcoming challenges.
As a result of the country's current position, the call has been made.
It cannot be overstated, he said, the rising issues harming the environment, forests, and other natural resources. He remarked, "We can all attest to the shifting patterns in our rainfall, temperatures, and the resulting widespread floods in our various areas."
He claimed that the Ghana Forest Investment Programme (GFIP) has been one of the possibilities given to the Ministry throughout the years to address some of the underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the nation, citing a number of achievements.
The Minister stated that the GFIP has been successful in achieving a majority of the primary objectives in a transparent and inclusive way, which has attracted major financing partners, including Climate Change Canada.
Additional cash will be provided by the Climate Investment Fund and the World Bank to address other growing concerns on the landscape.
"The World Bank fully supports the concept of Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) and is studying the possibility of using it in future projects, both in Ghana and elsewhere," he said.
Mr. Owusu-Bio acknowledged that managing artisanal small-scale mining has become a challenge in recent years, with unimaginable visible destruction to forests and riverine systems, but added that as a people, "we have risen to calls to stop this destruction, which poses an existential threat to all Ghanaians."
He said that a research on the institutional and legal framework for the forum's strategic plan is being addressed. In the Artisanal Small Scale Mining Value Chain, mining rehabilitation is important.
He anticipated that the research would clearly show how the many players in the value chain, notably government agencies, interact, overlap, identify gaps, and provide recommendations to improve coordination and remove redundancies in the system.
The Deputy Minister emphasized the significance of rescuing and maybe restoring the regions that have been devastated in order to support lives and livelihoods.
He further added that, while the GFIP program is a pilot and is incorporated in the Strategic Plan, the goal is to restore 150 hectares dispersed throughout Afao Hills Forest Reserve in Bibiani Forest District, Supoma and Denyua Forest Reserves in Bekwai Forest District.
Mr. Owusu-Bio stated that the Project has established District Implementation Teams to monitor and manage the repair work in order to ensure sustainability and ownership of the effort.
The Deputy Minister told participants that when the program's execution begins, he will personally join in since he believes in teamwork.
Participants came from the Forest Districts, the Mining Regions, and the Ministry for the Stakeholder Validation workshop on the Draft Strategic Plan for Reclamation.