CHIEFS and traditional authorities in the Northern Region have expressed their disgust over the spate of bush fires in the region.
They have consequently resolved to partner the Ghana National Fire Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other institutions to curb this negative phenomenon, which has become a big challenge to sustainable agriculture and natural resource conservation.
The chiefs, from the nooks and cranny of the region, made this commitment at the end of a one-day workshop in Tamale organised by the EPA to map out strategies for the control of bush fires.
A member of the Council of State, Kpan-Naa Mohammed Bawa, who chaired the workshop, indicated that they as chiefs were the immediate source of leadership in their respective communities and would thus lead in bringing a stop to this canker.
He noted however that the assemblies and the government could contribute significantly to the reduction of bush fires if they enacted and implemented the appropriate national and local anti-fire laws.
“We know there are already anti-bush fire laws, but how well have these laws been implemented and updated to address modern challenges,” he added.
Kpan-Naa also reiterated the need for the government to institute alternative livelihood schemes for rural people, some of whom depended largely on hunting and firewood and charcoal production for a living.
He again called for incentives for traditional authorities who championed the establishment and protection of woodlots and forest reserves.
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr San Nasamu Asabigi said it was wrong for the chiefs to wait on central government to spearhead the control of bushfires.
“It is you (chiefs) who are recognised as the custodians of the land. Your people see you as the ones who command authority and so they are prepared to listen to you,” he stated.
“If you raise your voice against bush burning and make it a prohibition in your respective jurisdictions, none of your subjects would disobey you. So start the initiative and we as political leaders would see where we can compliment and strengthen your efforts,” he added.
The Northern Regional Director of the EPA, Mr Abu Iddrisu noted that the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP) had provided the opportunity for the chiefs to salvage their lands from desertification.
“With this project, you can submit proposals suggesting effective mechanisms that you have adopted in your areas to halt bush burning and other negative practices that promote desertification and you would receive funding for implementation,” he explained.
The GEMP, which is a five-year Canadian-funded project, is one of the strategies that the government is using to achieve the targets of the National Action Programme (NAP) to Combat Desertification and Drought in Ghana, which was formulated in 2003 in furtherance of Ghana’s ratification of the United Nation’s Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Mr Iddrisu noted that the implementation of this project had moved from the formation of environmental management committees to actual execution of projects.
“Currently, the GEMP secretariat has received over 70 project proposals and would soon be perusing these projects to approve the viable ones,” he mentioned.
Various speakers at the project acknowledged the fact that bush burning was impacting negatively on the livelihoods of the people of the north by engineering the loss of vegetation, soil fertility and biodiversity, culminating in declining crop yields and erratic rainfall.
This year, many rice, mango and cowpea farms have been razed down leaving a lot of hardworking farmers feeling bitter and frustrated.
Already, there is evidence that chiefs in some parts of the Northern and Upper West regions have successfully implemented a non-burning policy in their areas for some years now.
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