Chief blames government for depletion of natural resources
Okoforoboo Dr Yaw Agyei, the Paramount Chief of Mim, in the Asunafo North Municipality on Thursday blamed the current and successive governments for the country’s rapid depletion of forest and natural resources.
He said the government has all the required security apparatus to fight uncontrolled illegal logging, mining and destruction of river bodies, but is failing to tackle the national challenge in a proactive and responsive manner.
Okoforoboo Agyei was speaking at the inauguration of the Ayum-Asuokow Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) at Ampenkrom in the Municipality.
CREMA which involves 36 communities, with an operational land area of about 21,574 hectares, was established to support sustainable management of forest and natural resources in the area.
It was established under the Environment Sustainability and Policy for Cocoa Production in Ghana Project being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board and Mondelez International’s Cocoa Life programme.
Okoforoboo Agyei observed that human rights provisions have virtually taken over the traditional powers of chiefs and queens, a situation he noted is making it difficult for the chieftaincy institution to fight against wrongdoings in the society.
He warned that posterity and unborn generations would not spare the government and Ghanaians in general if activities of illegal loggers and miners are not brought under control to preserve the eco-system.
Dr Augustus Asamoah, the Forestry Management and Conservation Specialist of the ESP project explained that the CREMA concept was an initiative of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission.
The concept, he said devolves authority and enables communities, land owners and users to manage the forest and wildlife resources of an area.
Dr Asamoah said the project had supplied about 250,000 farmers in the area with economic tree seedlings to help increase shade trees on cocoa farms and enhance carbon stocks across cocoa landscapes.
Source: GNA