Kogle, (U/W), Oct. 24, GNA - As part of efforts to minimize environmental degradation in the Upper West Region, the Regional Coordinating Council would from next year, award communities which do not burn the bush.

Mr. Stephen Engmen, Special Assistant to the Regional Minister, announced this at Kogle in the Lawra District on Thursday when he inaugurated a 14-member community environmental management committee for Kogle and Goziiri communities.

The ceremony formed part of the implementation of the Northern Savannah Bio-diversity Conservation project (NSBCP) being funded by the government with a grant from the Global Environmental Facility.

The committee is expected to mobilise community and individual efforts to preserve and conserve the local environmental and serve as a link between implementing agencies and district assemblies.

Mr. Engmen commended the Goziiri and Kogle communities for spearheading environmental preservation initiatives in the region and urged them to continue to sustain them.

Farming communities can create wealth only when sustainable conditions for farming are maintained, he said.

The Special Assistant warned that the RCC would institute legal action against any official of the Forestry Department and chiefs who condones and connives with illegal chainsaw operators to degrade the environment by felling teak, mahogany and other timber species in the region.

He asked members of the committees to form anti-bush fire volunteers to stem the spate of bush fires in the region.

Mr. Asher Nkegbe, Regional Programme Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said a key component of the NSBCP is the restoration of all degraded areas in the three Northern Regions. Mr. Nkegbe announced that the regional secretariat of the EPA would soon be outdooring a newsletter in Dagaame on environment. Known as Te Tingbango" (our environment) its mission would be to address and disseminate issues of environmental concerns to promote wider participation in sustainable environmental management.