Bolgatanga, Oct 03, GNA-Mr Asher Nkegbe, the Upper East Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reiterated the role of integrated natural resources management to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
That approach, he said, would ensure sustainable exploitation of natural resources, which would help protect the environment and forest reserves from degradation and help build resilient communities for improved livelihoods.
He therefore called on stakeholders to support the implementation of the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP) to encourage adoption and build sustainable communities.
Mr Nkegbe was speaking in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region, at a monitoring and evaluation training workshop organised for selected staff of the Departments of agriculture from the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone as part of GLRSSMP.
Mr Nkegbe who is also the Head of Technical Coordination Office, GLRSSMP, said, apart from empowering poor and vulnerable communities to be resilient against challenges of climate change, farmers would be introduced to best farming technologies and supported with improved seedlings and inputs.
He urged the implementing partners and other stakeholders to support the project to ensure that rural communities, particularly the farmers, benefitted from the project to help reduce poverty and ensure food security.
Ms Ivy Lomotey, the Technical Officer, GLRSSMP, said the training was part of efforts to ensure that the implementing partners gathered accurate data needed to ensure transparency and accountability.
She said the data, when accurately collected, could be used by government and other development partners for future planning and development to ensure that farmers were strategically targeted to improve productivity.
Mr Dominic Angbangbio, the Schedule Officer, GLRSSMP, Department of Agriculture, Bawku West District, noted that the agriculture component of the project would help farmers to expand farmlands and improve upon yields.
The GLRSSMP is a government of Ghana and World Bank project being implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
It has support from the Global Environment Facility, International Development Association, PROGREEN, Extractives Global Programmatic Support, among others.
The project is building on lessons, experiences, and successes from implementing the Ghana Environment Management Project and the Sustainable Land and Water Management Project.
The project geographically targets the Northern Savannah Zone including the Guinea Savannah ecological zone, the Sudan Savannah ecological zone, and the upper portions of the Transitional ecological zone, and Cocoa Forest Landscape including including parts of the Forest ecological zone and the Pra River Basin.
It is aimed at strengthening Ghana’s natural resource management, restore degraded forest and landscapes, formalise and regulate small-scale mining to increase benefits to communities in Northern Savannah and Cocoa Forest Zones.
