Dodowa (GAR), Feb. 12, GNA - The World Bank is to make available to Ghana $40 million to fight deforestation, forest degradation and climate change related issues.

To this effect, stakeholders would hold a meeting from March 21 to April 1, in Accra to deliberate on how to access the fund, due in November. Dr Ton van der Zon, Environment and Water Advisor, Danish Embassy, mad= e this known when he addressed participants at a day's workshop organised b= y the Ghana branch of Tropenbos International, an improved forest protection oriented non-governmental organisation. The workshop, which took place at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region cited carbon emission and deforestation as some of the causes of climate change. He said extreme weather conditions, rainfall and droughts were some of the negative effects of climate change. Dr Zon cited Burkina Faso and Democratic Republic of Congo as some of the African countries which would benefit from the fund known as Forest Investment Fund (FIP). Dr Kyere Boateng, Lecturer, Faculty of Natural Resource Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, spoke on Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs), which refers to forest reserves in the country. He urged the government to adequately resource the Forestry Commission to carry out its duties of protecting the country's forests. Dr Boateng asked the government to compensate communities whose lands had been used for the GSBAs project.

"We have come to realise that some=85communities encourage illegal logging in=85 forest reserves for financial benefits because they did not receive adequate compensation," he explained. Dr Boateng said some of the challenges confronting the GBSAs project, were inadequate stakeholder interest, lack of economic incentives for their maintenance, weak management capabilities and research. He appealed to government to position GSBAs in such a way that they would attract support from the international community. Mr Samuel Kobina Nketiah, Programmes Director, Tropenbos International= , Ghana branch, said the workshop was organised in order to broaden the horizon of participants on FIP, climate change and GSBAs. He noted that the aim Tropenbos Ghana was to provide distinctive input into sustainable forest management through local and international co-operation.

"We also provide platform for collaboration in addressing issues that impact on sustainable forest management in Ghana," he added. Tropenbos which has its headquarters in the Netherlands has branches i= n Viet Nam, Surinam, Indonesia, Colombia, Congo Basin and Colombia. Those who participated in the workshop included researchers, policy makers and civil society organisations. v