Nkawie (Ash), Sept. 3, GNA 96 Mr Stephen Asem-Nyarko, Nkawie District Manager of the Forest Services Division (FSD) of the Forestry Commission (FC), has said that the alarming deforestation of the catchment areas of water bodies was a serious threat to sustainable development and human survival. He attributed the fall in the water level in the Volta Lake resulting in power rationing throughout the country to the indiscriminate felling of trees and burning of charcoal in forest reserves along the Lake.

Mr Asem-Nyarko, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Nkawie in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District, said the forest areas where rivers took their sources had been depleted and river banks also destroyed resulting in the drying of rivers and erratic rainfall pattern that had become the bane of the country agricultural production. He said the FSD had targeted illegal chainsaw operators, which he claimed, committed serious ecological, social and economic crimes against humanity. His outfit's efforts to combat the illegal chainsaw menace were, however, viewed by some communities and other unpatriotic citizens as cruel.

Mr Asem-Nyarko was not happy that the FSD's efforts were being thwarted by some law enforcement agencies and communities, which he alleged condoned and connived with the perpetrators. He stressed the need for concerted efforts of all stakeholders and well-meaning Ghanaians to help protect the forests for sustainable development and survival.