A day?s workshop has been held at the Miklin Hotel in Accra to foster a working collaboration between interest groups to protect the nation?s dwindling forest.
This was done to brief media on the need and importance of informing the various interest group and the forest communities to see the need to protect it to ensure its survival.
Various competent resource persons heading various cluster groups in the forestry explained at length the danger of depleting our forest that would aggravate the climate change and ozone depletion looming menacingly on the country, not to mention desertification threatening this country as well.
The forum explained to the newsmen the various dos and don?ts in the forest zone. They spoke about the need to acquire the requisite certificate, quality lumbering, compensation package, preservation methods among others. Again the speakers stressed the need to involve the local people in the forest zones in decision making so that they would understand the issues well and clearly to be on board and co-operate.
Later in an interview with Dr. Ernest Asare Abeney, leader of one of the groups, he stressed the importance of certification to operate in the species approved by competent accredited audit companies. He told this paper that so far, 9 companies have been certified in Ghana to operate under ISO Standards requirement.
He also added that some private auditing firms have been checking the activities of other timber firms in Ghana to check illegal lumbering and forest depletion. Companies which do not comply with these standards on regular checks can be sanctioned.
In another interview with Mr. Gustav Adu, another speaker at the forum, he told this paper that the cluster groups have come together to drum home through the media to alert the public to come to terms with the urgent need to protect and save our forest and other non-tree forest properties that survive in the forest.
He lamented about the disappearance of several resources and organisms in the forest due to activities of mankind that has been difficult to check and control. He called on the Forest Commission and the agencies involved in regulating the inordinate forest abuse in the country to safe our forest and the environment. He also charged the media to propagate the news of urgent need to guard our forest jealousy to avoid a catastrophe.
What clearly came out of the forum was that, even though these cluster groups who are mainly NGO face the perennial problem of funding. This is because these bodies are sometimes funded by foreign donors. This has really hampered their ability to achieve their goals. They therefore called on the government, assemblies, NGOs, Corporate bodies, churches and communities should all join the crusade to conserve our forest and environment to avoid any mishap.
Clearly since Ghana is a tropical country it cannot afford to lose its natural forest and vegetation due to the activities of illegal lumbers and others to save the country. Indeed the forest provides us our wood products, medicinal leaves and backs, natural resources, water bodies, food and cash crops, flora and fauna, animals and so many other things the forest provides mankind so need to take very good care of it.
