Kumawu District Manager of the Forest Services Division under the Forestry Commission of Ghana has lauded stakeholders in the Kumawu forest district for their responsiveness and collaborative efforts in the management of the forest.
Mr Alfred Yabepone noted that the role of stakeholders in community forest management cannot be over emphasized.
The manager expressed gratitude to the various stakeholders during media briefing on the state of the Kumawu forest district on Friday.
He pointed out that management of the nation’s forests, natural vegetation and it’s biodiversity has been very challenging due to the lack of public and stakeholder interest in the sector.
He further noted that managing a complex and vast forest district such as Kumawu needs stronger collaboration and partnership of all relevant actors in the sector.
The manager said effective collaboration with stakeholders such as traditional authorities, MMDAs and private plantation developers has resulted in significant success of the Green Ghana aforestation program over the past two years.
Mr Alfred Yabepone on this note, commended stakeholders in the Kumawu forest district for their responsiveness and collaborative efforts.
Mr Yabepone indicated that with continuous collaboration and partnership, the district can maintain and further improve opun its tree cover and vegetation.
The Assistant District Manager(ADM), Ms Elizabeth Gabienu disclosed that the district exceeded its last year Green Ghana target of 240,000 seedlings.
She said management distributed a total of 321,759 seedlings to be planted in both on and off reserves as well as public spaces and individual farms across the eight political districts within the forest district.
Ms Gabienu said 257,939 seedlings were varified as planted at the end of the planting season.
The explained that the figure includes 144,430 seedlings planted in 130 hectares of degraded reserves and 113, 504 seedlings in the off reserve.
Ms Elizabeth Gabienu disclosed that management expect to achieve over 80% survival rate of the total seedlings planted during the year under review.
