The involvement of community members in strategies to manage bushfires and prevent its devastating effects on environment and livelihoods is crucial, Mr Sumaila Seidu Saaka, a climate and environmental protection expert has underscored. Mr Saaka who is also the Executive Director of Forum for Natural Regeneration (FONAR), an environmentally focused Non-Governmental Organisation, pointed out that the impacts of bushfires continued to worsen in recent years and local communities' actors were critical stakeholders in addressing the challenge. 'Both modern and indigenous knowledge tells us that socio-cultural burning and other forms of local stewardship have played and continue to play fundamental role in establishing and maintaining the fire-independent ecosystems of Northern Savannah Ghana today. Local communities and ethnic groups are therefore critical partners in addressing the bushfire problem,' he said. Mr Saaka made these observations during the inauguration and training of Community Bushfire Voluntee r Squads at Dasang and Kparaboug, two farming communities in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region by FONAR. It was part of the implementation of the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) project being funded by Awaken Trees Foundation of Austria. Apart from training the squads, they were given wellington boots, rake, hand gloves and cutlasses to empower them with the basic fire-fighting knowledge and skills to educate community members on the dangers of bushfires as well as help prevent, manage, and control bushfires in their respective communities. Mr Saaka explained that globally it had been recognised that although fire had devastating effects on the environment and economy it was essential in the cultural dynamics of various societies and helped to regenerate the environment. He said what was worrying was the fact that bushfires were not effectively managed in most instances especially in farming communities leading to adverse effects and several losses of property, lives and contributing to the negative impacts of climate change currently experienced. The Executive Director noted that although there was the Control and Prevention of Bushfires Act of 1990, PNDC Law 229, that mandated the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to establish fire volunteer squads to help prevent bushfires, many Assemblies in the region had not complied with the law. Apart from that, he said, the current bushfire law was not clear and lacked direction to achieve the needed results and called on the government to urgently take steps to review the law to spell out responsibilities of appropriate institutions to strengthen coordination and enforcement. 2 / 2 'Ghana is likely to miss out on the Sustainable Development Goals especially those relating to the environment and bushfire is one of the major causes because the Assemblies are supposed to develop their plans in line with the SDGs but most of them do not understand them,' he said. Assistant Divisional Fire Officer I, Akolgo Awuni, the Nabda m District Fire Officer, took the squads through functions of Fire Volunteer Squads as spelt out in the PNDC Law 229, to help raise awareness and collaborate with technical services to manage bushfires. He admonished the community fire volunteer squads to work with lead farmers in their respective communities to help manage bushfires and protect the environment. Source:Ghana News Agency
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