Sustainable Forest Monitoring Systems for the Takoradi Forest District project launched

Hen Mpoano (our beach) a Non-Governmental Organization in collaboration with its partners on Thursday launched the “Building a Sustainable Forest Monitoring System for the Takoradi Forest District Project” with a call on stakeholders to be committed to the success of the project.

The project funded by the Global Forest Watch – Small Grant Fund, sought to build the forest monitoring capacity of communities and forest managers to reduce deforestation in the forest district through enhanced community-based monitoring and effective enforcement of forest protection regulations.

Launching the project in Takoradi, Officer-in-charge of the project, Mr Justice Camillus Mensah said the Takoradi Forest District of the Western Region can boast of two major forest reserves, the Cape Three Points Forest Reserve and Subri River Forest, with the Subri being the largest Coastal Forest in the county.

He said, despite the high biological diversity of the forest reserves, the Ecological integrity of the reserves were increasingly threatened by human activities.

“The recent habitat destruction through illegal mining activities and indiscriminate lumbering in the reserves have heightened concerns over the current exploitation rates” he noted.

He attributed the current situation to the inadequate staffing and lack of requisite resources for monitoring by the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission, which is the Government Agency responsible for the management and protection of the reserves.

The Project officer said in that regard, the major goal of the project was to build the forest monitoring capacity of communities and forest managers to reduce deforestation in the Takoradi Forest District through enhanced community-based monitoring and effective enforcement of forest protection regulations.

He said the project also sought to improve upon local community capacity for the deployment of Global Forest Watch (GFW) and other spatial monitoring tools as a foundation for enhanced monitoring of human activities within the forest.

He noted that the expected outcomes of the project included deforestation in Cape Three points and Subri forest reserve would be reduced by at least 10 per cent by August this year.

Additionally, local communities would have improved capacity to deploy Global Forest Watch (GFW) and spatial monitoring tools as a foundation for enhanced monitoring of human activities within the reserves.

“It is anticipated that the uptake of this novel spatial monitoring system by Forest Services Division would provide the enabling framework for long-term forest protection, not only at the district but the Region and eventually the entire country.”

According to him, the Project would also support spatial data useful for rapid forest law enforcement actions to flush out and where appropriate arrest and prosecute illegal miners and chainsaw operators in the reserves.

Mr Stephen Kankam, Deputy Director of Hen Mpoano who gave an overview of the organization’s coastal governance programme, noted how the exploration of oil and gas in the Region had magnified pressure on the land and led to infrastructural expansion and was affecting the forest reserve.

He, therefore, stressed the need to ensure the coexistence of oil and gas activities and the different economic sectors.

Nana Bozza IX Divisional Chief of Ahanta-Akatakyie and Manwerehene to Ahantahene, who presided, commended Hen Mpoano and partners for the bold decision and asked that District Assemblies and traditional authorities should be effectively engaged in the implementation of policies and programmes concerning forest protection and group hunting in forest reserves.

Participants called for intensified public education on the rules and regulations governing the management and preservation of the forest reserves especially the two forest reserves in the Western Region.

They also noted with concern that the nation’s forests were under threat and called for participatory forest management to stem deforestation, illegal mining in forest reserves as well as group hunting in forest reserves.

In attendance were representatives from the Police, District Assemblies, Traditional Authorities, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Forestry Services Division, wildlife Division, the Media and Global Forest Watch.