Support fire management projects in Northern Ghana- Minister

Tamale, May 16, GNA - Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister has urged the country's development partners to increase their support for new fire management projects in highly prone fire areas, especially in the three Northern Regions.

He said wildfires had become annual threats to the ecosystem, including agriculture produce and life and property in the Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region.

He said statistics showed that the total area prone to wildfire annually in the country ranged from 30 per cent in the high forest and transition zone to over 90 per cent in the dry northern savanna zone, which comprises the three Northern Regions.

Alhaji Idris said this in an address read for him at the Regional launch of the "National Wildfire Management Policy" document for the Northern Region, the Upper East and Upper West Regions in Tamale on Tuesday.

The launching ceremony, which is being performed nationwide, was organised by the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and supported by the Government of the Netherlands with a grant of 12 million Euros for the implementation of the Wildfire Management Project.

Participants at the launching ceremony included; Forestry Officers, Officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Fire Service, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), District Chief Executives (DCEs), Chiefs and Non-Governmental Organisations.

Alhaji Idris said it was estimated that about 65 square kilometers of forest are annually lost due primarily to wildfire, poor agriculture practices, over-logging and excessive mining.

He said the annual loss of timber, cash and food crops to wildfire alone was currently estimated at three per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is about 210 million US dollars. He therefore urged institutions responsible for implementing the wildfire policy to take it seriously and make adequate provisions for fire management issues in their budgets.

The Regional Minister noted that the success of the government's initiatives on forest plantation development would depend to a large extent, "On how best we can control wildfires nationwide, among other menaces such as overgrazing and land security tenure".

Mr. Oheneba Amponsah Agyemang, Project Coordinator of the National Wildfire Management Policy, said the new policy would ensure consistency in the formulation of legislation and byelaws at all levels of governance to deal with issues of wildfires in the country.

Mr. Agyemang said the policy would help address global concerns for environmental quality management and minimizing the risk of climate change, adding that the policy, "has also taken cognizance of the failures of past interventions and has now incorporated multi-sectoral and best practice approaches in its framework".

Mr. Patrick Ayamgba, Northern Region Fire Officer, said the region from last year to mid this year lost over four billion cedis through bush fires and domestic fires.

He said as part of their efforts to prevent the outbreak of bush fires the Fire Service had established Fire Volunteers in all the districts in the region to suppress bushfires and had also been carrying out educational programmes on the radio on fire safety.

He advocated for the establishment of an awards scheme for Chiefs and communities that ensure that their environment was protected against bushfires, and urged educational institutions and religious bodies to get actively involved in the message on bush fire prevention.