Project/activity information

The proposal is based on the results of national surveys and a workshop held in Kumasi in May 2003 under the Pre-project PPD 44/02 Rev.1 (F) "Firefight Initiative: Prevention Rather than Cure". In Ghana, fire is considered as the most important single threat to the integrity of forests. Forest fires are a result of human activities in farming, hunting and other rural-based income-generating activities. The underlying causes are poverty, lack of education and awareness related to forest fire impacts, and the lack of strong legislative measures to prevent burning.

The development objective of the project is to promote the contribution of efficient community-based fire management to forest restoration and sustainable management in Ghanaian fire prone areas. More specifically, uncontrolled forest fires in the target communities’ forests will be reduced thus increasing their productive capacity.

Expected outputs are:
- Relationship between rural resource utilization and effective fire management determined;
- Opportunities and gaps in existing policies, legislation and markets identified and disseminated;
- Roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in fire management determined;
- Mechanisms for effective community-based fire management developed and implemented; and
- Areas degraded by fire rehabilitated by using valuable species as determined by the local communities