In addition, the World Bank, said the country must shift from traditional approaches to technolo­gy-driven, high-value and diver­sified forest industries to derive more value from the sector.

Speaking at the closing of the Ghana National Landscape Forum, the Programme Leader, Planet Department of the World Bank in charge of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Naila Ahmed, said the forest sector had huge poten­tial which should be harnessed to boost job creation and enhance the country’s economic growth.

The three-day forum was on the theme “Natural resource man­agement and forest economy for inclusive and sustainable growth”, the last day of which was focused on the forestry sector on the theme “Ghana’s Forestry Economy.”

Ms Ahmed said the country’s natural resources remained at the heart of its economic and environ­mental sustainability and should be tapped to accelerate the country’s development.

She said progress was being made to address the challenges of deforestation, land degradation and climate-related threats to improve livelihoods and economic growth.

“Over the past three decades, we have witnessed the government’s strong commitment to a sustain­able forest economy through the various projects such as cli­mate-smart cocoa production and landscape restoration to pioneering REDD+ carbon payment,” Ms Ahmed stated.

She said achieving large-scale im­pact required a coordinated, phased approach with targeted investments to institutional reform and capacity building, scaling up sustainable, participatory and inclusive forest management.

According to her, strengthening inclusive value chains for timber, non-timber products and ecotour­ism would boost the growth of forestry and help the country to derive a lot of benefits from the sector.

The Technical Director in charge of Forestry at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Joseph Osiakwan, said the programme brought state actors, non-governmental organisations and development partners such as the World Bank to discuss the forestry economy under the Ghana Forestry Project which was being developed, to leverage the un­tapped areas of the forest sector.

He said the forestry sector contributed a lot to Ghana’s econo­my through employment, foreign exchange and ecotourism.

However, Mr Osiakwan said illegal mining, population growth, agricultural expansion were deplet­ing the country’s forest reserves.

The Technical Director said it was in that direction that the Ghana Forest Economy Project was being developed to come with measures to protect the country’s forest and derive more gains from the sector.

Mr Osiakwan said the Ghana Forest Economy Project is being supported by the World Bank and the conceptual stage would focus more on ecotourism, to help derive maximum benefits from the coun­try’s forestry sector.

He said Ghana had largely focused on timber and could rake in more revenue like the Eastern African countries.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Re­sources, Professor Patrick Agbesin­yale, in his closing remarks, lauded the participants for the insights they shared on the management of the country’s natural resources, the ecosystem account and natural capital accounting.

He said the suggestions made would shape the policies in man­agement of the country’s natural resources.