GROW TREES TO CHECK ON DESERTICATION ... Woyongo (PAGE 40, NOV 16)

THE Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo has underscored the need for residents in the region to grow more trees as way of forestalling the ever growing desertification threatening the future of the region.
He stated that in the face of climate change and its impact on human beings, there was the need for the people, particularly those living close to the White Volta River to plant more trees, particularly the economic ones such as mango and cashew nuts.
According to him that would not only help reduce deforestation, but would also create incomes for members of the community.
Mr Woyongo made the call at the third Ghana Country Forum of communities in the White Volta Basin held at Zebilla in the Bawku West District.
The forum which attracted participants from 13 communities along the White Volta Basin, was facilitated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Since 2004, the IUCN, a body of the United Nations has been collaborating with the Water Resources Commission of Ghana and the Directorate General of Water Resources (DGRE) of Burkina
Faso, to implement the project to improve water governance in the Volta River Basin.
The forum in Zebilla was therefore aimed at bringing the various stakeholders to share thoughts, experiences and come out with appropriate institutional framework for the management of the White Volta Basin in a sustainable manner.
Mr Woyongo commended the IUCN for the intervention, especially for supporting communities to raise more than 15,000 seedlings planted along the white Volta river bank.
Mr Joachim A. Abungba of the of the Water Resources Commission said the phase II of the project for improving water governance in the Volta basin within the framework of the local trans-boundary committee for management of the White Volta sub-basin (CTGEN), necessitated the co-ordination role of Water Resources Commission (WRC) through the White Volta Basin Secretariat (WVBS) in the implementation of interventions in the selected communities.
Mr Abungba said the NGOs partnering the project, namely BACH which mobilised communities in Bawku West District and BEWDA, which was responsible for communities in Bawku Municipality and Garu-Tempane District, also organised HIV/AIDs education and awareness campaigns for five communities in August 2009.
According to him, Range Officers of Forest Services Division also helped in training nursery attendants of the newly selected communities in nurseries management in August, 2009.
Mr Abungba said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) also organised soil fertility management training for all the communities in August, 2009, which benefited about 300 people.