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afrol News, 4 July - A community forestry management project in Ghana has been financed with US$ 9 million. The project's objective is to rehabilitate the degraded forest reserves, increase production of agricultural, wood and non-wood forestry products and strengthen institutional capacity. The African Development Bank (ADB) yesterday said it had approved a loan to finance the community forestry management project. The project had been conceived in the context of the Natural Resources Management Programme prepared by the Government to serve as a vehicle for implementing the Forestry Development Master Plan, which was launched in 1999 by the government with support from donors. It was to "involve the integrated management of forests, assist the beneficiaries to have sustainable livelihoods, enhance training for staff of the Forestry Services and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture," ADB says. The project further was to contribute to poverty reduction through the sustainable development of forest resources and maintenance of environmental quality. Increased availability of land to the farming communities would "lead to the creation of new employments and generate more important for the disadvantaged people." According to ADB, "the project will directly benefit some 6,000 farm families."
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