Ghana’s forest reserve has been severely degraded in recent times through illegal mining and farming, chainsaw operations and illegal expansion of settlements.

The Forestry Commission (FC), in a bid to forestall the rapid encroachment, has formed a Rapid Response Taskforce to collaborate with the communities where the forests are located to address the problem.

The Forestry Commission has also started re-afforestation programme across the country with the sole aim of ensuring that the depleted forest is restored within a shortest possible time.

The security measures put in place by the Forestry Commission has so far led to the arrest and prosecution of several people that have destroyed the forest to serve as deterrent to other people.

Alexander Asare, Head of Collaborative Forest Management Department and Project Coordinator of the ‘Improving Social Responsibility Agreement in Support of a Functional Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) made this known at a national training programme for stakeholders.

It was organized by the Resource Management Support Center (RMSC) of the Forestry Commission.

The programme was geared towards identifying the challenges facing timber contractors and the forest-fringe communities, which lie within five kilometers radius from the forest, so that they could be properly addressed.

Under the project, which started in June 2015 and ends in August 2016, timber contractors are to pay additional 5 percent and adhere to the social responsibility agreement to help develop communities close to the forest.

Mr. Asare called for the formation of committees made up of trusted individuals in the communities so that they could work to ensure that the 5 percent of money paid directly to the communities by timber contractors would be used for the intended purposes.

He said that the forest-fringe communities seem not to be benefiting adequately from the royalties paid by timber contractors and this appalling development usually create hostilities between contractors and community members.

Mr. Asare expressed hope that the royalties paid by the timber contractors are supposed to be used for developmental projects in the forest-fringe communities to enable the local people to appreciate the good works of the timber contractors.

He disclosed that a number of foreign nationals are currently in Ghana to invest in plantations, admonishing Ghanaians and the various district assemblies to also make investment in plantations because of their profitability.