Nkawie (Ash), Dec.15, GNA - A three-day alternative livelihood support training workshop for 30 snail and grasscuter rearers has ended at Nkawie in the Atwima Nwabiagya District.

The workshop, organised by the Forestry Commission and sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID) was supported by the Forestry Sector Development Project Phase One.

The participants were included members of the Community Forest Committees, Community Biodiversity Advisory Groups and representatives drawn from 15 communities around the Offin Shelter Belt Forest Reserve in the Nkawie Forest district.

Mr Nelson Amelodzi, Nkawie District Forest Manager, who opened the workshop, said it was organised as part of a strategy to involve communities in forest management.

This, he said, would assist in sustaining the interest of the people in forest management and to also keep them away farming at prohibited areas, illegal chainsaw activities, charcoal burning and setting bush fires that destroyed the forest.

Mr Amelodzi stressed the need for a strong collaboration among the community members and other stakeholders in the management of the forest resources.

He said if immediate and strenuous efforts were not taken to prevent the degradation of the forest, all its resources would be destroyed.

Mr Amelodzi, therefore, called on all stakeholders to meaningfully contribute to efforts aimed at protection the forest from degradation.