Day: April 22, 2024

The Tropical Biology Association (TBA), together with the Institute of Nature and Environmental Conservation (INEC) Ghana, is running a practical restoration training programme on Ghana’s threatened tree species, for conservation practitioners and managers.

The 10-day training programme, funded by the Fondation Franklinia, aims to build the capacity of the participants to commit to conserve threatened tree species and restore their habitats.

About 20 participants who are undertaking mangrove restoration, natural regeneration, and other forms of forest reestablishments in the country, are taking part in the training programme.

It would cover topics such as Planning Impacts of Restoration Projects, Understanding the Links between Restoration and Ecology of Forests to achieve Long-term Conservation Outcomes, Different Restoration Approaches, and When to Apply them.

Again, participants would be exposed to Monitoring Impacts, as well as Communicating the Importance of Conserving Ghana’s threatened tree species
.

Dr. Rosie Trevelyan, Director, TBA, at the opening of the training programme in Kumasi, emphasized the need to take forest life seriously.

She said forests contributed to providing stable climate, clean water, protecting plants living in them, and fighting atmospheric greenhouse effect among others, adding that the TBA believed that education was an important tool for conservation.

‘We rely on and benefit from forests and if they are gone, we will suffer. We really have to conserve the forests that are left for the benefit of the people as well as our life, but because we have lost so many forests, we can do some action to restore them,’ she observed.

Dr. Trevelyan was optimistic that as the conservationists received knowledge on restoration, they could help in Ghana’s quest in addressing challenges of conserving threatened tree species.

Mr. David Kwarteng, Director, INEC-Ghana, said over 10 percent of Ghana’s native tree species were threatened and that formulating effective strategies to conserve, an
d restore these species in their natural environments were both critical and urgent.

Explaining the genesis of the training, he said Fondation Franklinia funded a workshop that gave birth to the threatened tree conservation action plan.

One of the key gaps that was identified by the action plan was the lack of capacity to undertake restoration using threatened trees (trees that need urgent conservation attention and are at the verge of extinction).

He said in response to that, the training workshop was put together to train Ghanaian conservation practitioners and managers who were directly undertaking restoration on the field.

Mr. Kwarteng mentioned that participants as part of the programme would visit the Bobiri Forest, INEC’s restoration sites, and KNUST Botanical Gardens to learn the different restoration approaches and silvicultural practices being used.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Some beneficiaries of the Land of Opportunity Global Mechanism (LOGMe) project in the Upper West Region have indicated that the project interventions have had a tremendous impact on their economic and social lives.

They said aside improving the vegetation, environment and protecting their water bodies, the project had also provided them with secured sources of income and food for improved family nutrition.

Madam Sahada Chanbua, a beneficiary from the Nanchalla community in the Sissala East Municipality, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the community during a field visit to the project sites that through the project they were able to meet the education and health needs of their children.

The project is being implemented in eight communities, six in the Upper East Region and two in Sakalu, and Nanchalla communities, in the Sissala East Municipality.

The beneficiary communities received diverse landscape restoration and economic interventions including tree planting, solar-powered mechanised boreholes, an
d fenced areas for dry-season vegetable production.

Others were beekeeping, shea processing machines, energy-efficient cooking stoves, skill empowerment in briquette production and education on Good Agronomic Practices (GAPs) among others.

Madam Chanbua said through the beekeeping intervention, which was for only the women beneficiaries in the community, they made GH?5,200.00 in two years with which they supported their families, saved in their Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) and reinvested part of it into the beekeeping business.

She added that the community also received a shea processing machine, which had helped enhance their shea business and they planned to process the shea into butter, pomade, and soap to sell.

Madam Chanbua said they also received a roller planter, energy-efficient cooking stoves and training on briquette production among others, which had helped improve their livelihood.

At the Sakalu community, Madam Saadia Tahiru, a beneficiary, indicated that through the project t
hey were trained to produce grass briquettes and use energy-efficient cooking stoves, which reduced their cost of buying charcoal to cook.

She explained that the project also cultivated plots for each beneficiary and provided them with improved seeds and inputs coupled with the knowledge of GAPs, so they could sustain their agricultural production beyond the support.

She said the garden they received from the project would serve as a source of economic activity for them during the off-season.

The beneficiaries could not hide their joy in commending the IUCN and its partners and funders for the intervention as it helped enhance their socio-economic livelihoods.

Madam Félicité Chabi-Gonni, the Regional Coordinator of the LOGMe project, expressed satisfaction with the project implementation in the communities visited and its impact on the beneficiaries’ lives.

She said it was achieving the expected results considering the project plan and the work done so far after three years of its implementation.

She ex
plained that the field visit had enabled them to see what had been done and to hear from the beneficiaries how it was transforming their lives, which corroborated with what was planned and the data they received in the report.

Madam Chabi-Gonni appreciated the Italian government for showing interest in improving the livelihood of people in the three countries through the LOGMe project.

Mr Godwin Evenyo Dzekoto, the Northern Sector Manager of A Rocha Ghana, stated that producing the grass briquette for family consumption and sometimes for sale would prevent the women from felling trees to produce charcoal.

He explained that with the abundance of grasses in the area, which would have otherwise been burnt, the women could maximise them to produce the briquette through which they could earn a decent livelihood.

Mr Isaac Kofi Razak, the Extension Officer at the Sissala East Municipal Agricultural Directorate, expressed hope that the livelihood interventions the project had provided would prevent the women from
felling trees to produce charcoal as a source of livelihood.

The project was dubbed: ‘Creating Lands of Opportunity: Transforming Livelihoods through Landscape Restoration in the Sahel’ and is known as: ‘Land of Opportunity Global Mechanism’ (LOGMe).

The Italian Ministry for Ecological Transitions provided funding for the project through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

It was implemented in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger to contribute towards meeting the land degradation neutrality targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The IUCN led its implementation in Ghana in partnership with A Rocha Ghana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), and in collaboration with the Water Resources Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Source: Ghana News Agency

An Accra High Court has struck out the case involving Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, a former Public Procurement Authority Chief Executive Officer, and his brother-in-law, Mr Francis Kwaku Arhin.

This is after the State withdrew the 17 counts of corruption related charges against them.

There were eight counts of using public office for profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.

Mr Arhin was charged with one count of using public office for profit.

They pleaded not guilty to all the charges and were granted a GH?5million bail each with two sureties each.

Madam Adelaide Obiri Wood, Principal Prosecutor, told the court that after ‘further investigation the Prosecution does not intend to proceed with the case against Mr Arhin’.

She said the Prosecution had since filed a fresh charge sheet with only Mr Adjei as the accused, a copy of which was brought to the attention of the Court at the last sitting.

T
he Prosecutor said administratively, it had come to their attention that the new case had been assigned to a different Court -Criminal Court Two.

‘We have since taken steps to serve Mr Adjei with the new charge sheet. We have also duly informed his lawyers of the new Court and the time fixed,’ she added.

Madam Wood said under the circumstances and the reasons given, they prayed to withdraw the present case before the Court to commence with the new case.

Mr Kwame Acheampong Boateng, counsel for Mr Adjei, said they were disappointed for the delay in the trial.

‘We are still in the soup, so we will not talk much,’ he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Pakistani and Iranian leaders on Monday vowed to strengthen relations and enhance bilateral trade to $10 billion a year, leaving behind recent airstrikes against each other and ignoring possible new sanctions against the Persian republic.

‘We have agreed to enhance our bilateral trade volume to $10 billion (a year),’ Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said at a presser with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

Raisi, who arrived in Pakistan on three-day visit, called for more action at borders to increase trade with Pakistan, in defiance of ‘illegal and unfair’ sanctions by the West against his country.

‘Time has come to … develop our shared border into the hub of trade and prosperity,’ Sharif said, echoing Raisi’s sentiments.

The comments came after both leaders witnessed the signing of at least eight draft agreements on security, trade, energy and culture.

Raisi visited Pakistan months after the two neighbours launched tit-for-tat airstrikes into each other’s territories.

Pakistani fight
er jets targeted alleged hideouts of nationalist separatists in Iran in January, a day after Iranian drones hit Islamist fighters in cross-border strikes.

Both nations have since restored diplomatic ties and resuming bilateral trade following a brief suspension.

Raisi’s visit marks the first by any world leader since Sharif assumed office following the February national elections.

The visit aims to mend relations with the Sunni-dominant nations as tensions escalate between Tehran and Israel due to recent reciprocal attacks.

Western nations including the US are reportedly contemplating new sanctions against Iran, a move that can jeopardize its deals with Pakistan including a project to build a trans-national pipeline for the supply of gas.

Security experts said Pakistan, a political ally of Sunni nations in the Gulf like Saudi Arabia, would be a significant player if Iran-Israel conflict spreads to the region.

A high-level Saudi delegation led by the kingdom’s top diplomat also visited Pakistan last week
to look for the prospects of the investment in the South Asian nation.

‘These visits are somehow linked to the changing security dynamics in the region, although they apparently look for trade and investments,’ said Irfan Shehzad, who leads Eurasian Century Institute think tank in Islamabad.

The Iranian president is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation comprising the foreign minister and other members of the Cabinet, senior officials as well as a large business delegation.

He is scheduled to visit the major cities of Lahore and Karachi where local governments have declared public holidays.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Assin Fosu Municipal Assembly has admonished residents to remain calm and not be intimidated by recent clashes between the youth in the town after the Ghana Police conducted a swoop to clamp down on criminals.

In a press release sighted by the Ghana News Agency, Mr Nicholas Kofi Baako, Municipal Chief Executive told residents that the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) will collaborate with the Regional Police Command to ascertain the cause of the unfortunate incident.

He said as soon as investigations were done, anyone found culpable would be made to face the full rigours of the law and suffer the penalty for it.

The MCE noted that the Police was mandated to organise swoops as and when needed based on intelligence gathered, and so residents should remain calm and give information.

It will be recalled that, the Police in Assin Fosu embarked on a swoop last Friday night to arrest criminals and miscreants who had been tormenting residents in the area.

During the operation, the Police arrested some susp
ects and retrieved substances suspected to be hard drugs in their hideouts.

In a rebuttal, the youth in the area pelted the police with stones and vandalised their vehicle in the process.

Again, the youth burnt car tyres in the middle of the newly constructed Assin Fosu-Kumasi highway, to register their grievances, damaging portions of the road.

The police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, but in the process, two youths sustained gunshot wounds.

The injured persons are receiving treatment at the St Francis Xavier Hospital in Assin Fosu.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Norway’s King Harald V will reduce his official engagements after recovering from illness, the Norwegian court said Monday.

The 87-year-old resumed royal duties on Monday after almost two months’ absence due to illness.

King Harald was hospitalized in Malaysia in February after falling ill on holiday. He was fitted with a permanent pacemaker in March after returning home.

Harald’s son, Crown Prince Haakon, took over all official obligations during his absence.

Europe’s oldest monarch, King Harald V has been on the Norwegian throne since 1991. He has struggled with ill health in recent years.

Source: Ghana News Agency