This, he said would lead to the increase in productivity of agriculture land, forests and water resources to reduce poverty and the vulnerability of citizenry to build “Ghana beyond aid”. Mr Saeed gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf in Tamale at the fourth Local Steering Committee (LSC) stakeholders meeting to deliberate on the Ghana Sustainable Land and Water Management project (GSLWMP).

He said the region was threatened by devastating effect of climate change, especially on agriculture and food security, which the project must envision as revolutionary environmental management in the zone. Mr Saeed said indiscriminate tree felling and bushfire constituted to the unsustainable farming practices contributing to land degradation and a threat to desertification reducing the productivity of agriculture land, forest and water resources.

The GSLWMP is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with support from the government of Ghana aimed at reducing land degradation and to enhance the maintenance of biodiversity of watersheds in the three Regions of the North.

The project implemented in over 163 communities intends to reverse land degradation through improved soil fertility, protecting watersheds to benefit communities in its implementation area. Mr Abu Iddrisu, the Northern Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency said with the implementation of the project, a number of watersheds in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions had been protected while improvement in the soil fertility of lands had also been enhanced.

He said several agricultural technology and information sharing had been enhanced to improve the knowledge bank of communities and ensure the practice of appropriate farming system to protect the environment.

Mr iddrisu indicated that, the project intends to facilitate community members to plant trees and to equip them with logistics to fight bushfire, which is a canker in the preservation of natural resources.