Category: General

Mr Thomas Fynn, a photographer and Executive Director, FYNNexhibits, has asked Government, Ministries, Departments, Agencies, organisations and individuals to invest in photography to boost Ghana’s tourism industry.

He said through photography, the country could project its rich culture and heritage and make it more visible to the rest of the world.

‘You can’t market your country without photography,’ Mr Fynn said, adding that, ‘Photography speaks louder than thousand words’.

He said this during the opening of a five-day photographic exhibition dubbed: ‘Spirit Possession’ being held on the theme: ‘Celebration of Ghanaian faces, African Culture and Heritage’.

The exhibition features themes from ancient historic monuments through ecotourism to ethno-cultural presentations.

They include rites of passage in Ghana, chieftaincy and traditional cultural festivals, traditional music and dance, cuisine, pristine beaches and landscapes, unique symbolism of political stability and unity, and socio-political history
of Ghana.

The event is being organised by Mr Thomas Fynn in collaboration with Tom Lamb, a photographer based in the United States, and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG).

The exhibition is taking place at the forecourt of CLOGSAG National Secretariat, Ministries, Accra, from Monday April 22 to Friday April 26.

Mr Fynn said most Ghanaians lacked understanding and appreciation of the value of photography, making it difficult for people to invest in it, especially regarding sponsorship of photographic exhibitions.

He encouraged young people to take up photography as a profession and to persist and persevere in the face of challenges so that they could excel in it.

He advised photographers to leverage digital technology to improve the quality and efficiency of their work and to use the backup mechanisms of digital technology to protect their works.

Ms Judith Kelly, Senior Corporate Affairs Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority, noted that photography served as a medium for Ghanaia
ns to tell their story by transcending language barriers, raising curiosity and captivating the imagination of viewers.

‘This exhibition should not be seen as merely a display of artistic ingenuity, but as a powerful tool for promoting Ghana as a preferred destination. It is a way to tell the world how special our culture is and invite tourists to explore our shores and experience our hospitality,’ she said.

She said photographic exhibitions helped in promoting dialogue, exchange, and collaboration, leading to partnerships to further strengthen the nation’s tourist industry.

‘Let us continue supporting and encouraging initiatives like this exhibition, ensuring Ghana remains a beacon of cultural wealth and natural splendor for generations to come,’ she said.

Mr William Kojo Krakani, Deputy Executive Secretary, CLOGSAG, stressed that the home formed the basis of every culture and that to promote tourism, the nation’s culture should be promoted at the home level.

He said parents, especially should teach the
ir children the local languages, foods, and other elements of the indigenous culture to prevent them from becoming extinct.

By preserving the local culture, Ghanaians would have a lot to offer the world through tourism, he noted.

Nii Ayikwei Kakalor I, Kokomlemle Mantse, delivering a message on behalf of Dr Nii Ayi Bonte II, Gbese Mantse, expressed hope that the exhibition would project the rich culture of Ghana to the larger international community.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Scores of global enterprises have secured early spots at the seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world’s first national-level import-themed expo, less than 200 days ahead of the grand event.

MNCs reap fruits in past CIIEs

Over the years, companies from 173 countries and regions have made appearances at the CIIE and carried out tentative transaction worth $424.23 billion. More than 2,400 new products, technologies and services have debuted at the annual expo.

‘Participating in the CIIE is very rewarding, as it gives us the chance to introduce our products to Chinese consumers,’ Mamoun Sayah, general manager of Moroccan winery and repeat exhibitor Red Farm, told Xinhua News Agency.

As Hicham Boudraa, acting managing director of Moroccan Investment and Export Development Agency, stated, Morocco attaches great importance to the development of economic and trade relations with China.

‘China’s expanding domestic demand and upgrade of consumption offer opportunities for export companies. We enco
urage more Moroccan companies to seize the opportunity and explore the Chinese market through the CIIE,’ he added.

Egypt is another key player at the annual CIIE that shines with a variety of specialty products, including cotton fabrics, handicrafts, herbs and spices, and olives.

Approximately $100-million-worth of Egyptian cotton enters the Chinese market and is popular among Chinese consumers, contributing to the development of the Egyptian cotton and cotton fabric industry.

‘The CIIE opens more export channels for enterprises around the world,’ Saudi Press Agency noted in its report. ‘More enterprises and agencies, including Saudi businesses, hope to participate in the expo to strengthen trade cooperation with China.’

In addition to the Business Exhibition, 72 countries and international organizations wowed visitors with their scientific and technological achievements, culture and art at the Country Exhibition of the sixth CIIE.

 Hongqiao Forum spotlights global issues

As a crucial part of the annual
CIIE, the Hongqiao Forum invites worldwide high-profile government officials, Nobel Prize laureates and senior executives of industrial pacesetters to discuss global issues.

The sixth Hongqiao Forum in 2023 saw record attendance of more than 8,000 people and featured 22 subforums on a range of subjects such as financial reform and innovation, digital governance and green investment.

Organizers of the forum held a symposium and a salon last month and invited important figures, including UN representatives, government officials, scholars, and member companies to contribute to this year’s themes and topics.

 CIIE 2024 welcomes more participants 

The seventh CIIE will hold another series of global roadshows in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, and Benin this April to promote the grand event to companies with a keen interest in exporting to China and highlight the CIIE’s supporting policies.  

‘So far, nearly 270,000 sqm of the Business Exhibition area has been booked by early exhibit
ors,’ said Sun Chenghai, deputy director-general of the CIIE bureau. ‘We expect more global brands to participate in this year’s big show and reap good returns in the vast Chinese market.’

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

Indigenous charcoal production is an alternative source of livelihoods for most indigenous men and women in Asesewa in the Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region. 

The people engaged in commercial charcoal production rely on the charcoal business to fend for themselves and their families.

They are traders, and farmers with plantations of Acacia, alongside food stuffs of cassava, plantain, and maize farms.

The charcoal producers in the area have formed an association to tackle bottlenecks confronting their operations and sustain them in business, amid climate change impact.

Initiative

The group, Charcoal Producers Association, has initiated a project aimed at restoring the forest cover and depleted woodlands in the district.

Dubbed ‘fell-one, replace 10 trees’ the association believes environmental sustainability remains the surest way to sustain their socio-economic livelihood of the charcoal business.

They are currently undertaking an afforestation programme and planting more acacia trees to resto
re the vegetative cover and depleted forest resources in the area, as a measure to mitigate climate change impact.

Mr Joseph Narh, the Chairman of the Bisa branch of the Association told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the charcoal producers were encouraged and supported to cultivate the acacia tree, which matured in six years.

Describing the charcoal business as lucrative, he said the initiative brings new hope to the producers, saying they had all embraced the initiative and undertaken the tree planting project.

He said there are about close to one million men and women engaged in the charcoal business spread across Asesewa, Adife, Kabo, Adife-Sokwenya, Bisa, Dawa, Djakane-Dawa, Kono-Dawa and Ogome-Dawa communities.

Climate adaptation and mitigation actions

Woodlands and rich forest resources are central and play an integral role towards mitigation of climate change impact in the country.

In fact, the country is experiencing the impact of climate change, including extreme heat, drying up of water bodies,
unpredictable weather patterns, erratic rainfall, among others.

Thanks to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo for his commitment to the implementation of the International Climate Action Agenda which birthed the Green Ghana Initiative.

The President launched the initiative three years ago and declared June every year as a mass tree planting exercise that inspires corporate and religious bodies, institutions and every Ghanaian to plant, nurture and own a tree.

Checks reveal over 42 million trees had so far been planted to restore the vegetative covers and the nation depleted forest resources since the initiative was launched in 2021.

Further checks confirmed that though many of the trees were doing well, many others could not do well in the dry seasons.

Commenting on the potential of Green Ghana, Mr Narh said the Charcoal Producers Association picked inspiration from the government Initiative and had since cultivated and nurtured more acacia trees not only to enhance their charcoal business, but also co
ntribute their quota to mitigating climate change in the country.

‘As an association we are also committed to ensuring that the President’s vision for the nation on climate change succeeds’, he stated.

Credit Union

Most of the charcoal producers have joined the ‘Onyemi Kormor, Okormor’ Cooperative Credit Union, which means ‘your neighbour’s problem is your problem’ which had been in operation for decades in the area.

It is a self-help initiative to provide financial assistance to farmers, traders, and charcoal producers to expand their economic activities.

Mr. Narh, an executive member of the Co-operative Credit Union, said the union was also supporting the charcoal producers to engage in the re-afforestation programme.

Testimony

Addey, one of the charcoal producers, testified to the GNA that after felling a tree ‘we all ensure that we plant and nurture 10 trees which mature six years for harvesting’.

‘In fact, the initiative has been great for us in business. We are all on the lookout in ensuring tha
t anybody who fell an acacia tree for charcoal burning replace 10 additional trees’ he stated.

Another charcoal producer, Gifty Doe Tetteh said ‘we are all checking against wanton destruction of the forest cover,’ saying since the charcoal business was their source of economic livelihood, they were ready to plant more trees.

Employment Opportunities

Figures estimate the charcoal business fetched direct and indirect jobs for more than 100,000 people in the Eastern part of the country.

Tetteh said she had been in the charcoal business since childhood saying as a single mother it was the only source of livelihood for her family.

John Tetteh, a charcoal retailer at the Nkurakan market, also highlighted the need for all the charcoal producers to contribute to the tree planting exercise, saying that was the only way they could be sustained in business.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accountants have been urged to upgrade their professional skills to stay abreast with new development trends in their profession.

Mr Kwasi Agyemang, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), noted that there were now new standards (International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and IFRS S2), which professionals must equip themselves with the requisite knowledge to be able to understand the contents of these standards, and also be useful in its application.

Mr Agyemang said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the closing ceremony for the ICAG Professional Diploma Programme, a 5 weekend course that provided expanded continuous professional development to participants.

It covers courses including, Advance Business Analytics; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Information Technology (IT) Audit; IFRS, and IPSAS, which aimed at deepening the knowledge and competencies of members in specialized areas.

Mr Agyemang told GNA
that among the objectives of the Institute was to regulate the accountancy profession and as well promote the study of accountancy.

He said ICAG developed programmes for its members as part of requirements to maintain its membership of the International Federation of Accountants; adding that ‘our members, every year must meet some 35 credit hours to maintain their membership.

The CEO said participants of the Professional Diploma Programme had the opportunity to select courses in their respective areas and these were all geared towards enhancing their performance at their work places.

Mr Wilfred Neneh Addico, a participant of the training programme and Partner at Makers and Partners (MAP), an accountancy firm, also told GNA that MAP was building capacity to be able to provide ESG services.

He said that the acquired skills marked the beginning of MAP on its journey to become consultants in the ESG space, and MAP was committed to help individuals, organizations and communities to be able put together an ESG
strategy.

‘ESG is basically ensuring that organizations and communities carry out their operations, being mindful of the negative impact of their activity on the environment.’

Mr Addico said understanding the impact of their activities would enable them streamline their operations so their impact on the environment would not be severe.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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