The project addresses problems in land degradation and desertification which has characterised the bechme part of the Brong Ahafo region. The area has been degraded due to unsustainable farming, bush burning and illicit logging and cutting of fire wood. The goal of the project is to develop the capacities of the local communities in degraded land restoration and sustainable natural resource management for the socio-economic wellbeing of the people.

The project will undertake the following field activities:

1. Develop local capacity for sustainable land, forest and wildlife management. Activities to achieve this component are to create 500ha community resource management area in the Kwasu traditional areas. Initially, through participatory rural appraisal techniques, community maps covering the entire Kwasu traditional areas would be undertaken so that appropriate protection strategies could be devised with the approval of the Chiefs, and landowners and the Forest Services Division. A seven member Community Natural Resource Management Groups (CNRMG) would be formed and trained in each community to provide leadership for implementation of the project. At the central level, a nine-member Natural Resource Management Committee will be formed to manage the project and to formulate and implement landuse, fire and natural resource management plans. Training and capacity building programmes would be prepared and implemented for specific groups, individual planters and extension workers in nursery development, staking out, planting and nurturing of trees. Training programmes will also be developed and targeted specifically at farmers to enable them to develop and pass on knowledge to other farmers about sustainable land and forest management. In participation with local communities, a central nursery will be established at Kwasu. A study tour for the CNRMG would be organized to Techiman and Jaaman where similar project were implemented. Indigenous knowledge and practices in land and forest management will be reviewed; new one enacted and enforced on wildfire management systems. In participation with local communities, fire protection and management plans will be developed to cover the whole project area.

2. Degraded lands and denuded forests within the project areas regenerated. Planned activities to achieve results include finalizing and signing collaborative resource management agreements; bye-laws on the management of the CREMA, completion and adoption of the participatory landuse plans and formulating land restoration and forest management plans. The next step will be to survey and demarcate the planting sites with the CREMA with the full participation of local communities, Traditional Authorities, Stool Chiefs, and landowners. A reforestation plans to cover all planting sites will be prepared with the people Interested local community groups and individuals will be registered and organized into Working Groups to plant at least 60 ha of the degraded areas on family lands.

The project will establish 10ha of demonstration ecological sustainable livelihood farm planted with diverse indigenous fast growing timber species (entandrophragma angolensis, terminalia superba and cieba pentandra), woodfuel species and the production of honey, snails, mushroom and small ruminant at Kwasu. Individual farmers would also be assisted to establish and own similar farms following the same model. The beneficiary farmers would be assisted with inputs to plant, nurture, monitor, and maintain the farms.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, water conservation and soil fertility improvement techniques would be introduced to farmers. Farmers would be introduced to composting, planting or muccuna and other nitrogen fixing plants.

All the sacred groves within the CREMA would be surveyed to establish their original boundaries and buffer zones created around them. Enrichment planting will be promoted within the degraded scared groves to restore their biodiversity.

3. Sustainable and efficient production and marketing of woodfuels. Activities to be pursued to achieve this component will include the registration and organization of the woodfuel producers in the area into groups. The current technologies being used will be investigated and improved one based on the cassamance and sissala technologies introduced. The groups would be assisted to acquire and plant woodlots to boost their business. Together with the District Assembly the taxation, marketing and transportation of woodfuels from the area to the urban centre would be reviewed and restructured to minimize excessive cutting of trees..

4. Set up Small business enterprise development and alternative livelihood activities to enhance biodiversity conservation: Under this component the activities to will include setting up trust groups and training them in business management and accounting. The project will evolve a revolving loan mechanism to assist the project beneficiaries to set up small businesses in snail farming, honey production, small ruminant rearing, mushroom farming and grass cutter rearing. Women would be assisted to trade in non-timber forest products and to develop local businesses to enhance biodiversity conservation by setting up a revolving fund.