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The world is losing 10 million hectares of forest each year, roughly the size of Iceland, which accounts for 12 to 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
It is the reason why the United Nations declared March 21 of each year as World Forest Day.
This year’s theme is “Forest Restoration: A Path to Recovery and Well-being”,
A Rocha Ghana, an environmental non-governmental organization in a statement signed by its Deputy National Coordinator, Mr. Daryl Bosu and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, highlighted the economic values and costs of forests, as well as reiterated Ghana’s key actions towards accelerated intervention to restore the country’s lost forest heritage.
The statement said that forest ecosystems in their various forms and forms throughout the world provided critical ecosystem services that provided habitat for more than 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity, provided services for agricultural production by enhancing soil fertility and generation of water, through water protection. bodies and rivers.
He said that the forests in Ghana supported various households and businesses with non-timber forest products (NTFPs) such as medicinal plants, mushrooms, snails, bushmeat and materials such as rattan for cane and climbing chairs and ropes for construction and many others. subsistence services.
According to the statement of the Country Environmental Analysis Report (CEA) of the World Bank, it was indicated that 60% of the population, including 53% of women, is employed in the agricultural and forestry sectors and 14% of the population lives in marginal community areas and depended directly on forests for a third of its livelihoods and income.
He said that the Atewa Forest Ecosystem Services Economic Survey in 2016 identified the Atewa Range Forest Reserve as a crucial water tower that helped more than one million people in Accra, including industries, urban families, and rural communities and farms serviced by Water.
He said that the annual value of water consumption downstream of the two main watersheds that had their source in the Atewa Range was more than United States $ 28 million in 2016, according to the same study, forests served as the main source of plant materials for the traditional medicine industry, valued at more than $ 30 million / year, since most of the streams and rivers throughout the country take their source or are protected by the network of forests of the entire southern country north.
The statement said that the loss of forests in Ghana was due to threats from both legal and illegal logging, encroachment of agricultural activities for both food and commercial crops, gathering firewood and charcoal production, forest fires. and, in recent times, both legal and illegal mining activities. for gold and other minerals such as bauxite.
He said the World Bank estimated that the net loss of forests in Ghana, which was valued at $ 1.578 billion in 2010, increased to $ 3.134 billion in 2017.
According to a report by the World Resources Institute, Ghana’s rainforest is rapidly disappearing, adding that, in 2018 alone, the country experienced an alarming 60 percent decline in primary rainforest.
“This 60 percent decrease in primary rainforest was the highest percentage of rainforest loss of any tropical country. Several studies conducted on the perception of forest loss caused respondents to express concern about the increasing loss of forests throughout the country, “the statement added.
He said that the 2016 State of the Environment Report from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as the World Bank’s CEA Report from April 2020, identified the loss of forests as a tremendous risk to Ghana’s development. .
According to the statement, the alarming trend of forest loss indicated that not all went well, despite various institutional mechanisms and financial support that the sector has received. This year’s International Day of Forests theme should be used as a launching pad to bring all stakeholders together to put the country on a path of restoration and recovery.
He noted that this year’s theme also fit into the United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), a call for the protection and reactivation of ecosystems around the world and therefore a great opportunity. for Ghana to take advantage of these regional and global recovery mechanisms. and restoration, with deeds and not just with words.
“As we reflect on the issue of forest restoration as a path to recovery and well-being, we take the opportunity to share some invaluable policy interventions that are crucial to reclaiming our forests and enhancing the goods and services that forests provide to people. Ghanaians ”.
Protect existing forests from further depletion: The statement said it was of utmost importance and urgency that Ghana take steps to ensure that the network of 200 officially declared forest reserves spread across the country were protected from further depletion, by allocating resources to the Forestry Commission to undertake its regulatory functions of protection and use of forest resources. It is essential that the increasing incidence of the allocation of mining concessions and galamsey activities in forest reserves be stopped immediately.
Restoring depleted forests should prioritize forest functions over economic timber production functions: He said it was commendable to note that several state-sponsored and bilateral programs were in place or underway with the goal of returning forests to where they were.
“We must plant the right trees in the right place: The statement emphasized that Ghana must definitely plant more trees to restore our depleted forests and also contribute to climate mitigation and community resilience development, yet reiterated the need to ensuring that all tree planting activities in the country must ensure that the right trees are planted in the right places.
“Tree tenure reforms are imperative for growing more forests in Ghana: he said that for centuries communities and farmers have grown trees on their farms only to be cut down by timber traders without compensation. This has led to a culture where farmers no longer grow trees to avoid / prevent logging activities on farmland, which eventually lead to crop losses. Individuals and farmers want to nurture and care for more trees and these must be supported by appropriate management and benefit-sharing regulations.
“Standing forests are more valuable than felled trees: the statement said that Ghana’s extractive economy policy path was not sustainable and should give way to pathways of recovery and sustainable development that protect the forests and ecosystem services that provide and further promote well-being and development in harmony with nature.
“There is a global paradigm shift towards green development pathways that emphasizes nature-based solutions that protect forests and enhance nature’s gifts, goods and services. We’ve said all the good things about staying true to Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15, but we have yet to see specific actions in that regard. Let that action begin with the exclusion of Atewa Forest from Ghana’s Integrated Aluminum Development program, “Atewa Forest receives much more than bauxite.”
“Our quest to recover from COVID-19, climate change, the loss of global biodiversity and the depletion of the quality of life lies in our ability to restore nature and make nature work for us. We can do this by restoring what was lost, and each and every one of us has a role to play. Spread the word and let your actions count, ”he added.
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