Mrs. Ama Kudom - Agyemang, an environmental consultant, has appealed to journalists to develop interest in reporting on issues that could promote sustainable development in the forestry sector.

She said the media had been known to confer importance on issues, projects, activities, events, organisations and even individuals through its role of informing, educating and entertaining the public through the mass media channels of communication.

However, newspapers have only a certain amount of space allocated to news relating to forest management issues, Mrs Kudom-Agyemang added. She said this at the end of a two-day media training organised by the Friends of the Earth in collaboration with the National Working Group on Forest Certification, which aimed at assisting journalists in reporting on forest governance.

Speaking on the topic: “Forest Governance Reporting and Information Dissemination”, Mrs Kudom-Agyemang urged journalists to investigate forest legal and policy framework, forest strategies and plans, forest monitoring, forest management practices and Forest Law enforcement.

Speaking on ‘Communication strategy within the framework of the VPA’, Mr. Agyemang- Prempeh Koranteng, Timber Validation Department, Forest Commission said that there was awareness that the government wa not solely responsible for the public domain of the functioning of the country but that this is a responsibility of society as a whole.

He stated that the limited capacity of government to achieve effectiveness taking into account different societal powers, power structures as well as the changing and increasingly complex societal context.

Mr. Roland Affail Monney, President of the Ghana Journalists Association expressed his concern at the alarming rate at which the country is losing its forest reserves, adding that there is a need to address it.