Mr. Charles Owusu Ansah, the Deputy Kintampo Municipal Forestry Director in the Bono East Region, appealed for the engagement of more guards to preserve the Bosoma and Buru Forest Reserves in the municipality.
He expressed worry that only 14 forest guards were protecting the about 117,688 acres of the two forest reserves in the municipality, saying that the guards were not enough to protect the forests from exploitation.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Kintampo, Mr Ansah said that the Bosomoa forest reserve covered 37,625 acres north and the Buru Forest reserve also covered 80,063 acres south.
He said though the forest reserves were intact, there was the need to engage more guards to protect the reserves against potential illegal mining, popularly known as ‘galamey’ and illegal logging and lumbering.
Mr Ansah noted that the few guards were often threatened by some community members on the fringes of the reserves in their attempts to enter the forests.
He expressed concern that bush burning and hunting as well as influx of Fulani nomads and their unscrupulous cattle grazing activities threatened the forest reserves and natural resources.
Mr Ansah noted that due to lack of vehicle and motorbikes it was difficult for the guards to comb round the fringes of the reserves and appealed for motorbikes.
He said the Forestry Commission (FC) implemented the Modern Taumgyo System (MTS) programme in the area where the forest fringe communities were empowered to protect the reserves, saying that the programme had helped protect the reserves from exploitation.
Mr Ansah added that the FC was also collaborating with the Tullow Oil and the Youth Forest Champions (YFC) helping to manage the reserves to plant 415 hectares of varieties of tree species in the municipality.
He called on the government to pay the seven-month allowance arrears owing the YFC to motivate them to do more to help protect the forests and natural resources.
Mr Ansah also advised the forest-fringe communities to collaborate and also cooperate with the FC in protecting the forest reserves from depleting as well as the natural resources.
