The Forestry Commission (FC) has adopted the use of digitalisation to ensure efficient and effective protection of forests in the country, says the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr John Allotey.
He said the use of devices to track animals, record keeping, the use of drones to monitor activities in the forest and marketing of reserves through digitalisation had proved to be effective because it impacted positively in forest resources management of the country.
The CEO of the FC said this when he addressed a durbar mostly made up of students, pupils, and other stakeholders to mark the 2024 World Wildlife Day celebration on the theme: ‘Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation,’ at Adaklu-Hlekpe in the Adaklu District of the Volta Region over the weekend.
According to Mr Allotey, illegal activities in forest reserves such as logging, farming and charcoal production were some of the challenges confronting reserve management in the country, which called for collective efforts by all to maintain and sustain forest reserves.
He announced that conscious efforts were being made to relocate people living in the Kalakpa Reserve, when funds were made available, for the exercise to ensure that relocation of the people in the 320 kilometres reserve established since 1975 would become a reality.
Mr Allotey said Community Resource Management Area (CRMA) would be established outside the reserve to work with the communities to protect the reserve in addition to the formation of an Advisory Committee, which would include traditional rulers and other stakeholders to work hard to attract investment for the Kalakpa Reserve.
He explained that the move was to raise adequate revenue for the district assemblies through digitalisation, and asked stakeholders to cooperate with the FC to enable it to raise more revenue to facilitate development.
The CEO stressed the importance of awareness creation among the people to protect the forest reserve and the environment, and called on assemblies and coordinating councils to help protect reserves for the benefit of the present and future generations.
The Director-in-charge of Stakeholder Engagement in Eco-tourism (DSEE) of the Wildlife Division of the FC, Dr Richard Gyimah, said the Kalakpa Reserve Resource was vital to eco-tourism promotion, which had the capacity to promote social and economic development because it would create jobs for the people.
Dr Gyimah said investing in national parks should be seen as a huge investment opportunity, which should not be left in the hands of the government alone in view of the role the private sector could play by providing accommodation facilities for tourists, and local people would also take advantage of existing opportunities to market their local produce.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Adaklu, Mr Walter Zu, said the four District Assemblies namely North and South Tongu Districts, Adaklu and Ho West Districts faced difficulties in controlling human activities in the reserve and called on the commission to employ the youth in the four districts to protect the reserve.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, ADAKLU-HLEKP