Commission launches books to help scientists

Accra, Aug. 10, GNA - The Forestry Commission (FC) on Friday launched three botanical books to enable scientists to remove barriers in the technical language on forest issues. The books are Photoguide for the Forest Trees of Ghana, Plant Identification and Woody Plants of Western Africa Forests. The Publications would serve as the beginning of the removal of barriers of technical language between foresters and local level collaborators in resource management.

The book on Photoguide for the Forest Trees for instance provides coloured photographs of plants, which have been incorporated into the publication with their natural features. The occasion also showcased management plans for 30 selected forest reserves designated as Globally Significant Biodiversity Area. The Management Plans talks about the kind of species in each forest reserve, the owners of the land, how to manage the resource and who is to be in-charge.

The management plans are to be reviewed after every five years. Professor Nii Ashie Kotey, Chief Executive officer of the Commission said management plans were key to the effective management of biodiversity rich areas. "The translation of these plans into actions will lead to the fulfilment of our quest for greater biodiversity conservation in a manner that delivers sustainable benefits at global, national and community levels".

Acknowledging the fact that some management plans were already in existence, Prof Kotey said the management plans that were launched were slightly different from the conventional forest management plans in terms of structure and processes of implementation. He expressed the hope that the new publications would help stakeholders to identify tree species easily.

Nana Obrepong Gyimpire Agyekum II who chaired the function said it was important for the trees in Ghana's forests were documented since many had been identified to be of medicinal values. "We need to note all the trees that are of medicinal values so that we can conserve them properly to enable the traditional healers have supply at all times," he said.

He also called for the institution of incentives for forest fringe communities so that they could play key roles in arresting the activities of illegal chainsaw operators who were causing the most harm to the forest resources.

"Due to the lack of incentives, most members in the communities always weight the cost of being vigilant to profit that could be derived in undertaking other ventures," he said.

Nana Agyekum urged all Ghanaians to be involved in the conservation efforts saying, "we need to be mindful of the fact that our forefather left us with some inheritance from the forest and we are also expected to leave some heritage to our children and the generations yet unborn". Mr. Maxwell Owusu Abebrese, Acting Chief Executive Director, Forest Services Division thanked the World Bank for supporting the publications. 10 Aug. 07