The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources recently embarked on a nationwide consultation tour and handing over of forest parks to various communities across the country.
The visits were made to various Eco System Based Adaptation (EBA) project intervention sites, where plant seedlings and construction of regional forestry intervention sites are underway.
The EBA project, under the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources aimed to build the climate resilience of rural communities and facilitate the development of sustainable natural resource based green economies.
The communities that were had forest parks handed to them were: Niamina West, CRR South: Katamina Village and Sambang Wolof; Upper Fulladu: Jambang Wally Village; North Bank Region: Sabateh Village, Noo Kunda.
The Minister of Environmental Climate and Natural Resources Hon Lamin Dibba urged relevant communities managing forest parks to abide by the rules and regulations for gaining community ownerships. The communities should protect the forest from bush fires and deforestation.
He noted that the government has realised that community forest management is key as the rate of deforestation and forest degradation is increasing rapidly leading to concerns about loss of eco system.
He urged them to engage youths to benefit from forest products such beekeeping and forest enterprise management for livelihood enhancement.
The Governor of North Bank Region, Lamin Dampha said that protection of community forest parks are key to development of the region and that communities across the region are aware of consequences of deforestation. He noted that empowering communities to protect the environment and manage forest parks is important to enhance food security. Similar meetings were held in CRR, where governor of that region, Hon Abba Sanyang also underlined the significance of reforestation and advised other communities to follow the right procedures by the Department of Forestry for ownership of their forest parks.
