CFCS calls for more support to protect reserves

The Community Forest Committees (CFCs) in the Asante-Akim South District have appealed for more support to help them to protect the forest reserves.

They said they needed to be adequately resourced by way of logistics to enable them to perform.

They were contributing to discussions at a forum organised at Juaso by the National Forestry Forum-Ghana (NFF-G), a civil society organization established under the National Forest Programme with the assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations (UN).

Mr. Joseph Tosu, a member of the CFC, said they had been carrying out the job of safeguarding the forest and its resources under difficult and trying conditions.

He said they go to the extent of putting their lives on the line to seize illegally sawn lumber from chainsaw operators and insisted their efforts often go unrewarded, a claim that was sharply rebutted by officials of the Forest Services Division (FSD) of the FC.

Mr. Isaac Owusu Boakye of the (FSD) said it had been the practice to reward the CFCs anytime they managed to assist track down those ravaging the forest.

He invited all stakeholders to work together to tackle head-on the illegal and destructive activities of the chainsaw operators.

Mr. Augustine Dabo, a Regional Executive Member of the NFF-G, said their goal is to promote sustainable management of the forest for posterity.**