Twifo-Praso (CR), June 27, GNA - The European Union (EU) in collaboration with Government of Ghana have began registering illegal chain-saw operators, under an European Union Chainsaw Project, to control depletion of forest resources and help minimize further destruction of the ozone layer in the country.

Under the project, stakeholders in eight selected forest reserves, including Assin Atandansu Reserve are being educated on effects of environmental degradation through chainsaw operations to assist in preserving the equatorial forest for posterity.

Mr Seth Kwame Duodu, Assistant District Manager of Assin Fosu and Twifo-Praso Forest Reserves, speaking to GNA at the launch of this year's Central Regional celebration of "World Environmental Day" said the EU was undertaking similar projects in Guyana, a South American country which also has equatorial forest.

He said equatorial forests had broad leaves that facilitated the absorption of "ultra carbon compound", the substance that depleted the ozone layer and subsequently caused global warming.

Mr Duodu said the project was laudable because, controlling chainsaw operators in the country had become a major challenge facing the Forestry Division as all efforts including formation of taskforce to clamp down their activities had not yielded the desired impact as they adopted various tactics to continue with their nefarious activities. He said Government and the EU were evolving means to review the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1649 of 1997 that banned the sawing of logs by chainsaw machines.

Mr Duodu explained that currently, chainsaw operators supplied about 70 per cent of sawn lumber consumed by the local market as the registered timber firms which had been mandated to supply 20 per cent of their products to the local market had refused to comply with the directive.

He said when the timber firms complied with the directive, chainsaw operators could be controlled and their activities checked and would be taxed to generate revenue for the nation because currently their operations were illegal and did not pay taxes. Mr Duodu called for an intensified tree planting by Ghanaians to help save the country's forests and beautify the environment. Some members of the public expressed concern about the illegal mining along the banks of Pra River and littering of the environment with plastic waste. 27 June 08