Government urged to take action to promote forest reserves

November 12, 2009 Accra, Nov. 12, GNA - Stakeholders at the forest sector have called on government to promote cross-sector coordination in the implementation of policies to ensure sustainability of the country's forest reserves.

In a communiqué sent to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday after a "National Stakeholder Forum on the Implementation of the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests", the group said even though the forest sector had enormous potential to contribute to poverty reduction and environmental sustainability, current developments threatened its survival.

The forum was to assess Ghana's position in respect of the implementation of national policies and measures contained in the Instrument, a global framework which allowed countries to systematically assess their strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the implementation of national forest programmes.

It called for measures to address cross-cutting issues such as gender, education, science and technology to offer other means of livelihood to people dependent on forest reserve.