Mr James Ware, Upper East Regional Director of Forestry Commission, on Wednesday decried the alarming rate of deforestation in the area.

He therefore called on communities close to forest reserves not to misuse the vegetative cover as that would adversely affect the environment.

Mr Ware said trees are for life and therefore continuous felling of trees builds up risks of food insecurity, environmental degradation and facilitates climate change.

He noted the efforts most environmental and civil society organisations put into growing trees and said survival rate of trees planted ends up poorly because of acts such as burning, poor rain fall and destruction by animals.

The Regional Director who was speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga, expressed worry at the increasing spate of galamsey (small scale mining) activities, which he said contributes to destruction of trees in reserve areas and in some cases, land reserved for infrastructural purposes.

He said the Forestry Commission places high priority on the protection of reserved areas and tackling of deforestation,

Mr Ware said personnel of the commission are on the lookout to ensure that perpetrators of acts of felling trees are brought to book.

He condemned the annual phenomenon of bush burning in the region and urged communities to be vigilant in ensure the protection of the environment.

He called for a fire tender, as a standby resource to the Regional Commission to augment efforts in reducing incidence of burning in reserve areas.