DEFINITION OF PROBLEM (THREATS TO DENTE GROVE)

The renewable natural resources of Dente Grove, comprising forests harbouring a wide variety of globally important and unique flora and fauna, nationally important freshwater ecosystems, and diverse medicinal species resources play a major role in the economic, religious, and cultural life of the Krachis. These important resources, however, are under threat from human-induced pressures, including over-exploitation and habitat degradation due to illicit logging, hunting and bushfires.

The local population who are mainly farmers use slash and burn farming methods for both cash and food crops grown under the bush fallow and land shifting cultivation system. The average farm size of farmers is 3.50 ha2 the major crops produced are yam, cassava and maize. With the slash and burn system, primary and secondary forests are cleared for cultivation annually. Most of the standing trees cut down and burned, before the crops are planted, resulting in considerable forest degradation and loss of biodiversity. Unfortunately, due to poor farming practices farmers tend to encroach on the virgin dente forest.

Illegal logging poses major threats to biodiversity conservation in the area. Bushmeat constitute a major source of animal protein in the rural communities. Certain animal species are considered a delicacy and are preferred over domestic meat while others are eaten as part of certain traditional rites. All varieties of wild animals are accepted as comestible, resulting in serious overexploitation that has led to very low population levels of all large mammal species. The area is well known for its bushmeat supply especially during market days.

According to the Traditional leaders, the remaining intact forest within the Dente Forest Area is less than 30% its original size. Forest and land degradation in the area continues to be on the increase especially with gradual shifts in faith against traditional beliefs which guides the management of the area. The situation in Krachi Dente is a clear case of a traditional area with rich natural resources that are threatened by misuse and ineffective management, where national governmental efforts have not been able to contain the situation. The traditional authorities are keen to protect the resources for the survival of their people, but currently lack the capacity to be effective

3.3 Project Objective

The objective of the proposed project is to enhance biodiversity conservation and promote sustainable land management in Krachi traditional area through the creation of community resource management area and promotion of community-based integrated natural resource management approaches.

3.4 Project Rationale

It is becoming increasingly critical the role of traditionally protected areas play in natural resource management and biodiversity conservation in Ghana. It is now widely acknowledged that the success and long-term sustainability of conservation initiatives depend on support and acceptance of such interventions by the local communities. It is also clear that local people will only support conservation initiatives if they see concrete benefits and improvements in the quality of their lives.

In the past, biodiversity conservation in Ghana was seen as the responsibility of the State, although the traditional authorities had constituted traditionally protected areas (sacred groves) for religious and cultural reasons many year ago. The traditionally protected areas are guided by traditional norms and regulations, which have, stand the test of time. Most rural Ghanaians depend largely on the traditionally protected areas for food, shelter, health, livelihoods and many other aspects of their existence. As a result, areas continue to be degraded and shrink in size. Some have even been converted into farm and other landuse. Most wild animal species are becoming increasingly threatened by the demand for bushmeat, and the local populations who depend on wildlife resources are becoming poorer and poorer.

Ghana has adopted a Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II), which represents comprehensive policies to support growth and poverty reduction in the county. Under the strategy, the government intends to create wealth by transforming the structure of the national economy to achieve growth, accelerated poverty reduction and the protection of the vulnerable and excluded within a decentralized, democratic environment. The GPRS focuses on providing the enabling environment that will empower all Ghanaians to participate in wealth creation and to partake in the wealth created.

This project aims at supporting the strategic initiatives to support the GPRS by:
• Improving forest and wildlife resources through equitable sharing of management responsibilities and benefit flows to local stakeholders, especially the rural poor.
• Improving governance in the public sector such as participation, transparency and accountability.
• Mainstreaming collaborative resource management (CRM), by promoting the rights of farmers other marginalized groups building capacities and strengthening local organizations and institutions and
• Improving the community voice through the creation of a forestry fora network across the country to provide a space for interaction and give communities a voice; multi-stakeholder involvement in management planning; and the establishment of customer service centres in all the districts to improve service delivery.

Under the Fourth Operational Programme of the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, Ghana intends to promote community-based initiatives that simultaneously conserve the environment and promote sustainable development through the implementation of local, community-based projects. The programme seeks to encourage and promote community ownership and involvement in the management of forest and wildlife resources. Krachi Dente, the proposed project area, is one of the few traditional areas in Ghana who have demonstrated commitment to take up a lead role in managing their natural resource heritage for the benefit of their people and the country as a whole.

Global Environment Benefits

The proposed project would result in multiple global, national, and local environment benefits, within the context of sustainable development. These benefits would include: (a) conservation and sustainable use of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity; (b) prevention and/or control of pollution of major river systems from illegal activities and domestic waste; (c) prevention and/or control of degradation of watersheds through unsustainable land use practices; (d) minimization of carbon emission from shifting agriculture and the use of inefficient wood stoves; (e) improvement in carbon sequestration through improvement of vegetation cover; (f) provision of alternative economic livelihoods for communities in the traditional area; (f) rise in community awareness levels in environmental management and conservation

3.5 PROJECT OUTPUTS/RESULTS

1. Capacity of traditional authorities and local communities in natural resource and sustainable land management developed.
2. Dente Forest Area developed as Community Resource Management Area gazetted and sustainably managed.
3. Agro-forestry and Sustainable land management practices introduced in Kadentwen, Gyengyen, Gyanekrom and Krachkrom .
4. Sustainable livelihood activity initiated to support biodiversity conservation.

4.0 Description of Project Activities.

Output 1 Capacity of traditional authorities and local communities in natural resource and sustainable land management developed

Planned Activities

1.1 Initiate Environmental Education and Sensitization Programme in the Krachi traditional area:

The programme is aimed at raising awareness among various stakeholder groups of the importance of enhancing environmental protection in the traditional area. A number of community durbars led by the chiefs would be mounted to educate the people. Environmental information and educational materials, including billboards will be placed along major roads and strategic locations in 25 towns and villages in the traditional area. Posters and leaflets would be developed and distributed.

The highlight of the environmental campaign would be an annual environment week and environment awards. The District Assembly in collaboration with the Traditional Council and the Dente Chief Priest will institute an Environment Week. During the environmental week, Nananom including Dente Chief Priest will tours towns and villages to raise environmental awareness. As an incentive to communities and individuals the following annual awards will be put in place:
(i) Best Environmental Town of the Year,
(ii) Best Environmental Town Chief of the Year;
(iii) Best Environmental School of the Year; and
(iv) Best Environmental farmers of the Year.

The project will carry out environmental education, create awareness in schools within the traditional area, and form environmental clubs in the schools. The Project management team will undertake regular visits to schools to give talks on environmental issues, organizes training for Teachers who are Club Leaders and annual camps for the Club members.

1.2 Form and train Dente Forest Restoration Brigade (DEFORB): The DEFORB will be a community-based voluntary organization that will be formed in each community under the chief to provide an avenue for direct participation of local communities in environmental protection. All the beneficiary communities would be assisted to establish DEFORB with membership of not exceeding 11 (40% women). The mission of the Brigades would be to protect and preserve Dente Forest natural endowment and to ensure that human activities are environment friendly. The Brigades' responsibilities and activities include:

• Forest protection (stop and prevent illegal tree felling, prevent and fight bush fires, prevent illegal farming within forest reserves and promote tree planting)
• Protection of water bodies (prevent farming along river banks and streams, prevent waste dumping, enforce “no settlement along river banks” rule and educate against and enforce “the no chemical fishing” rule);
• Wildlife protection through enforcement of hunting laws, and
• Activities to promote sanitation and environmental health.
• Enforcement of CREMA constitution.

1.3 Form, train, equip and empower Wildfire Management Volunteers.
Each beneficiary community will form Wildfire management Committee with membership not exceeding 20 (including 30% women). The Fire Volunteers would be trained in farm fire management system, fire fighting and suppressing techniques. They will ensure that indiscriminate setting of fire during the dry season is minimized by patrolling the forest area and assisting farmers to practice controlled burning.

Output 2 Dente Forest Area developed as Community Resource Management Area gazetted and sustainably managed.

The aim of this component is to enhance the status of the Dente forest promote the conservation wildlife resources for biodiversity conservation. The project will seek to restore and protect the original boundaries of the Grove and ensure sustainable management and utilization of the resources and strengthening of the capacity of local institutions, and community groups to collaborate to conserve renewable natural resources in an integrated manner.

Planned Activities

2.1 Compile baseline Information for CREMA. Conduct socio-economic to compile information on the resource base; land and resource tenure; and governance system of the Dente Forest. The project will hold series of consultative meetings with relevant stakeholder groups to deliberate on the strategies to achieve the CREMA objectives, using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) strategies. Establish CREMA administrative structures along the traditional systems (e.g. CREMA Executive Committee (CEC) and Community Resource Management Committees (CRMC). The survey will support rapid assessment of status of biodiversity in intact forest blocks with emphasis on species of conservation concern and species with socio-economic and cultural values, and documentation of the extent of dependence of local communities in Krachi area.

2.2 Organize study tours to establish CREMA. The project will send a team of traditional leaders and members of management committee, Fire Volunteers and DEFORB and other selected community members on a study tour of a successful CREMA pilot area in the southern Ghana.

2.3 Establish DENTE CREMA: Through participatory processes the project will assist the Krachi Traditional Council to establish the boundaries for Dente CREMA to guide the restoration and sustainable utilization of the community lands. Through participatory approaches, project will assist the local people to determine that extent of coverage of forests within area, document the status of biodiversity in key forest blocks to provide the baseline information necessary for planning the conservation, management and sustainable use of these resources. Activities to be implemented under this component will include identification and demarcation of core areas that harbor the gods, critical habitats, and documentation of the distribution and status of critical ecosystems (forests, water bodies, etc.) in the area.

2.4 Formulate CREMA Policy and Regulatory Reforms at the Community Levels. This activity is aimed at updating and revising the traditional policies and regulations to legitimize the CREMA. Activities to be supported under this component will include the documentation of indigenous knowledge and traditional conservation systems and evaluating their effectiveness as conservation tools; review of existing local policies and regulations, identification of gaps, and updating them for approval by traditional authorities, District Assembly, etc. This component would also support the updating of zoning and participatory land use plans for Dente forest as well as formulation of local by-laws that will regulate access to biodiversity resources and re-enforce traditional conservation strategies.

2.5 Organize enrichment planting in five degraded areas of the groves: The Environmental Brigades in Kadentwen, Gyengyen, Gyanekrom and Krachkrom would be assisted to re-plant degraded areas within their sacred groves. The groups will first survey the degraded areas and with the assistance of the Forest Services Division determine the type of species that will thrive in the area and plant them.

2.6 Create buffer zone around the grove and mobilize the communities to replant.
The project will assist the beneficiary communities to create buffer zone around their portions of the Grove. The demarcated area would be shared among the interested farmers to clear and plant their normal food crops. However, the project will supply them with seedling to be planted within the farms.

Output3. Agro-forestry and Sustainable land management practices introduced in Kadentwen, Gyengyen, Gyanekrom and Krachikrom

The purpose of this output is to demonstrate to he people the need to adopt agro-forestry and soil improvement techniques as a solution of the land degradation instead of shifting lands every year. The farmers would be support to with seedlings of their choice.

Planned Activities

3.1 Develop a participatory landuse plan that will promote sustainable forest and wildlife resource production and integrated agroforestry practices into existing and new farms. Through participatory processes, each participating community will be assisted to develop community landuse plan and implement it.

3.2 Train selected farmers in Agroforestry practices: Twenty selected farmers would be trained and assisted in each community to establish agroforestry farms in the project areas.

3.3 Set up community nursery and train the communities to manage them: The project will set up 0.2ha community nursery in Krachikrom. Five local members would be selected and trained to manage the nursery to produce the required seedlings for supply.

3.4 Support selected farmers to establish ecological farms. The project will assist at least 20 enterprising farmers to set up an ecological farm which combines tree planting with wildlife management as a demonstration farm for the community to learn.

3.5 Support individual framers and groups to establish woodlots
Farmers interested in establishing woodlots for the supply of wood fuels would be assisted to establish at least 2ha woodlots. Each farmer must demonstrate land ownership and ability to manage the trees and the project will supply them with seedlings.

3.5 Introduce farmers to soil improve techniques and composting

The project will introduce farmers to soil improve technologies including composting. Each farmer would be trained on how to prepare compost using farms waste and domestic refuse.

OUTPUT 4 Sustainable livelihood activity initiated to support biodiversity conservation.

This component would explore and support sustainable use options including processing of grass cutter rearing, bee-keeping, mushroom farming, fish farming, and small ruminant rearing ventures that would contribute to improving livelihood sources for the local communities.

Planned Activities

4.1 Identify and train farmers in selected livelihood activities. The project will conduct series of workshops to educate the farmers on the various alternative livelihood activities available.

4.2 Set up of training Centre for grasscutter farm, bee-keeping, snail farming, fish pond and mushroom farming
The project will support the establishment of livelihood enterprises for grasscutter farming, fish pond and mushroom farming. All interest farmers would be sent to the centre for training.

4.3 Provide start up capital for interested farmers to start business in grasscutter farm, bee-keeping, snail farming, fish pond and mushroom farming