Bolgatanga, Nov 10, GNA - The Ghana Environmental Management Project, a five year project aimed at reversing land degradation and desertification in the three northern regions, is being implemented smoothly in the area.

The Regional Director in charge of Upper East Region, Mrs Zanabu Wasai-King, said this at a validation workshop on "the Socio-Economic Survey on the Status of Land Resources in the Upper East Region" under the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP) at Bolgatanga on Tuesday.

She said GEMP, with support from the Canadian government, begun in the Region last year and is being implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA has increased the capacity of institutions and reactivated the Regional Environmental Management Committee. In addition, eight District and Municipal Environmental Management Committees have been established.

Mrs Wasai-King said nursery attendants in communities have also been trained to establish 50,000 tree seedlings to supply to communities. She said land degradation in the area was deplorable and worrisome as most of the natural resources are depleting including the extinction of biodiversity. Mrs Wasai-King mentioned some practices associated with land degradation as bush burning, indiscriminate felling of trees for charcoal burning and pollution of water bodies. Presenting the baseline Survey at the validation workshop, Mr Kwaku Boateng, Principal Programme officer of EPA in charge of the Region, said wood harvesting, mineral extraction and sand winning, bush burning and water pollution were identified by the community members as some of the major factors of land degradation.