By Isatou Jawara
An Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) project in The Gambia is targeting one million trees to rehabilitate up to 10,000 hectares of degraded forest and wildlife parks through reforestation, enrichment planting, and conservation of rare or endangered species.
The six-year project is meant to build the climate-resilience of rural communities in The Gambia by developing a sustainable natural resource-based (green) economy. It also intends to restore 3,000 hectares of abandoned and marginal agricultural lands.
Officials at the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR) said the EbA project will directly benefit up to 11,550 Gambian households, with the potential to indirectly reach a further 46,200 households in four regions (Central River, Lower River, Upper River, and North Bank). “Of these, 50 percent will be women,” the Environment Minister Lamin B. Dibba has said.
Dibba recently embarked on a nationwide consultation tour and handing over of forest parks to various communities across the country. He also visited various EbA project intervention sites where plant seedlings and construction of regional forestry intervention sites are underway.
The various community forest parks have been handed over to the people of Katamina and Sambang villages in Niamina West, Central River Region South; Jambang Wally village in Upper Fulladu; and Sabateh village Noo Kunda in the North Bank Region.
Dibba said these communities should take ownership of and manage the forest parks. They should also protect the forests from bushfires and deforestation.
He urged Village Development Committees (VDCs) to lead anti-bushfire campaigns in order to protect biodiversity and to prevent water and food insecurity. “Protecting forest parks could eradicate poverty and food insecurity,” he said. “The forest enterprise management plan should be maintained by community foresters. Let’s protect the forest to enhance our livelihoods.”
Lamin Dampha, the Governor of North Bank Region, said various communities across his region are aware of the consequences of deforestation. “Empowering communities to protect the environment and management of forest parks is important in enhancing food security,” he said.
The Governor of Central River Region, Abba Sanyang, said beneficiary communities should follow procedures of the Department of Forestry in managing the parks.
The Gambia is no stranger to community initiatives on forest management. In 2011, the country received a “silver award” during a ceremony by the World Future Council celebrating the “most inspiring, innovative and influential forest policies” worldwide.
The Future Policy Award celebrates the world’s most exemplary national policies that create better living conditions for current and future generations and that produce practical and tangible results.
