The Government of Ghana has secured funding of US$87.76 million from the World Bank to implement the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP) to strengthen the integrated natural resource management and increase benefits to communities in the savannah and cocoa forest landscapes.

The 6-year project, which targets the Northern Savannah zone and Cocoa forest landscape, will deploy a holistic approach to address land and forest degradation and promote sustainable small scale mining.

Speaking at a review and planning workshop in Bolgatanga, Project Coordinator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mr. Isaac Charles Acquah, bemoaned the dire impact of the menace of land degradation and illegal mining activities on the environment and human health, reiterating the timeliness of the project to address threats of climate change.

He explained that, the project will strengthen institutional and regulatory frameworks to improve sustainable land management practices and the formalization and accountability of artisanal and small scale mining.

Mr. Acquah, said, the project will also improve revenue for small scale miners and cash crop farmers whilst creating jobs for the youth through landscape restoration and degraded lands reclamation activities.

“The GLRSSMP will provide a unique opportunity for the project to collaborate with other ongoing land restoration and mining projects in the country to tackle the challenges created by the illegal small scale miners”.

The project will include institutional strengthening for participatory landscape management and sustainable crop and forest landscape management.

The rest are; enhanced governance support for sustainable artisanal small-scale mining and project monitoring and knowledge management.

Mr. Acquah was optimistic the project, when successfully executed, will contribute to attaining SDG 1, 13 and 15.

Head of Technical Coordinating Office, Asher Nkegbe, was optimistic the GLRSSMP project will build on the achievement of the Ghana Environment Management and the Sustainable Land and Water Management projects to achieve its goals.