WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT: NEW POLICY LAUDABLE (PAGE 42, NOV 1, 2010)

IN 1994, the government of Ghana adopted the Forest and Wildlife Policy as a working document for its forest and wildlife protection.
From this policy, the Wildlife Division developed clearly defined futuristic objectives and strategies for the wildlife sector in its Community and Collaborative Wildlife Management Policy of 2000.
One of the key strategies in this policy is to encourage the conservation of major ecosystems and wildlife outside protected areas, using local community institutions as well as devolving authority for managing these resources to the local authorities.
This is a significant shift from the previous policy which was geared mainly towards the complete protection of protected areas with very little involvement of local communities.
The Wildlife Division thus could not draw on the support of these key stakeholders to fulfil its mandate.
Due to the lack of support, most areas outside protected areas have virtually been depleted of wildlife resources as a result of over exploitation and habitat degradation.
The pressure on the protected areas is therefore increasing and it is subsequently leading to the depletion of the nation’s store of biodiversity.
Conservationists all over the world have since the late 1970s and early 1980s, been searching for practicable and sustainable alternatives to traditional militant approach of conserving natural resources.
Consequently, Community Based Natural Resource Management approaches that seek to involve the local people who bear the cost of conservation, are being implemented by many nations, including Ghana.
The unique goal of these approaches is to empower the local people by according them the necessary power to be at the centre stage of natural resources management by utilising their own capacity to guarantee their livelihood security and environmental conservation.
This position is premised on the recognition by many experts that conservation areas and values in many countries will survive better if human concerns of subsistence, survival, livelihood, income generation, social recognition, among other pertinent issues are addressed.
The concept of communities managing their wildlife resources through Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) has therefore been accepted and it is being implemented by local communities in the sustainable management of natural resources.
This is a significant demonstration of the government’s willingness to allow local communities to manage their own natural resources.
The CREMA is a geographically defined area which includes one or more communities that have agreed to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner, and it is based on the establishment of areas where wildlife management is incorporated into existing land use systems.
It is also a community based organisation that is built on existing community decision making structures with an executive body and a constitution that guides the activities and regulations of the CREMA.
One of such CREMAs has been established for the people of the Cape Three Points and Princess Town in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region, bringing to 10 the number of CREMAs in the region. There are five around the Ankasa Conservation Area and the other four around Bia Conservation Area.
Most forest reserves in the Western Region are under serious siege from chain-saw operators, illegal gold miners as well as farmers who are plundering the region’s forest resources with impunity.
In the Afoa Hills, Tano Suraw and Anhwiaso South Forest Reserves in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District, farming activities are being carried out in those reserves.
It is also the same story in the Tano Anwia, Suhuma, Sui River and KRHI Forest Reserves.
While in the Bia, Dissue River, Muro River, Tano Suhien, Subri River and Bonsa River Forest Reserves, illegal chain-saw and felling of trees are also being carried out there in addition to illegal mining in the River Bonsa.
Unfortunately, most chiefs are said to be guilty of complicity in these unacceptable situations because as it is generally known, the illegal farmers in the forest reserves are mostly settler farmers from other parts of the country who got access to the reserves through the chiefs after paying drinks and other rents.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Cape Three Points/Princess Town CREMA at the Cape Three Points, the Director of Operations- Wildlife Division, Mr Alex Akwoviah, said the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had pledged its support to continuously work through the Forestry Commission to strengthen and build the capacity of those recognised community institutions to sustainable manage their natural resources.
He therefore, urged the Ahanta West District Assembly and other stakeholders to continue supporting the newly established Cape Three Points/Princess Town CREMA to successfully manage their natural resources.
Mr Akwoviah was convinced that as more CREMAs were established in the country, depletion of wildlife resources would be controlled thereby facilitating a better protection for protected areas since the pressure on them would be reduced with adequate resources for use by local communities.
Mr Akwoviah congratulated members of the Cape Three Points/Princess Town CREMA for the patience, commitment and sacrifice they had made to get to that stage.
He urged the Ahanta West District Assembly to work with the CREMA in enforcing the rules and regulations governing the CREMA.
He also appealed to all conservation, non-governmental organisations as well as development partners to assist the CREMA in whatever capacity they could to make the programme a shining example of community participation in wildlife management throughout Africa.
The director expressed profound gratitude to the French government for supporting the Wildlife Division and CARE International, through the Community Forest Biodiversity Programme from which the facilitation of the establishment of the CREMA was funded.
He further commended traditional authorities, the district assembly and all communities forming the CREMA for collaborating with the management and staff of the Forestry Services Division, Conservation Foundation, CARE International and Wildlife Division to establish the Cape Three Points/Princess Town CREMA in the district.