Ghana joined the rest of the world on Tuesday to observe the World Day to Combat Drought and Desertification (WDCDD).

The annual event, which is in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution, is to promote public awareness about the causes and effects of land degradation, desertification and drought as well as highlight efforts to combat these challenges.

On the theme “Food, Feed, Fibre,” this year’s event seeks to educate individuals on the links between consumption and land.

A statement signed and issued by Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng in Accra, said Ghana had 35 per cent of its land under threat of desertification due to human activities such as deforestation, unsustainable land use practices, wild fires, the use of agrochemicals and overgrazing.

However, it said, the implementation of the Ghana Environmental Management Project (GEMP), the Sustainable Land and Water Management Project (SLWMP) and the Adaptation Fund Project were supporting efforts to restore degraded landscapes.

It noted that these projects have provided dugouts as watering points for livestock and supported 39,000 farmers with farm inputs to practise various forms of sustainable land management technologies within 246 communities, covering 152, 578 hectares of land, to protect the ecology of the country’s northern sectors.

In addition, the statement said 1,060 hectares of land have been reforested within two forest reserves namely the Kulpawn and the Ambalara Forest Reserves.

“The Adaptation Fund Project has provided water and increased access to water supply by drilling 145 boreholes and constructing 10 dug-outs to serve more than 1,000,000 people mainly women and children in 50 communities in 10 districts in the northern sector of Ghana. The Project has also undertaken several livelihood interventions in the area of beekeeping, shea butter processing, groundnut oil extraction, dry season vegetable production and fish farming,” it stated.

The statement called on Ghanaians to protect the land by making changes in their lives to support community resilience, maintain the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services and contribute to reducing the COVID-19 crisis’ impact on global poverty and food insecurity.

Source: Ghanaian Times