Upper East Region: The Forum for Natural Regeneration (FONAR), an environmentally focused non-governmental organisation, has organised a two-day training of trainers’ workshop for personnel of the rural fires department of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in the Upper East Region. The personnel, numbering 15 and drawn from the Regional level, and the Nabdam and Talensi Districts of the GNFS, were equipped with the concepts and principles of community-based fire management, community fire awareness, preparedness measures, and the impact of bushfires among others.

According to Ghana News Agency, the training also aimed at increasing their understanding of concepts and principles, expanding their knowledge of current bushfire policies and legislations, improving their expertise on the use of basic bushfire fighting techniques and tools, and strengthening their capacity to deliver on their mandate. The workshop formed part of FONAR’s community bushfires management activities in the Nabdam and Talensi Distr
icts, funded by Awaken Trees Foundation of Austria.

Mr Sumaila S. Saaka, the Executive Director of FONAR, noted that annually, bushfires destroy thousands of hectares of forests and woodlands in the country, with up to 90 percent of the total area of the dry northern Savannah zone prone to annual bushfires. The resultant effects, Mr Saaka recounted, include the loss of tree cover, economic and medicinal trees, land degradation, and loss of livelihoods for already deprived communities.

He emphasized that the harmful effects of bushfires could no longer be considered solely the product of a long dry season or human carelessness, but also highlighted the inability of key national sector players like the GNFS, Forestry Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency to limit the spread and minimize the damage of bushfires. Mr Saaka stated that effective fire control required early warning systems and adequate fire-fighting equipment, and it was important for the government to provide resources for agencies
like the GNFS to enable them to commit to the fight against bushfires to limit its devastating effects.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO), James Owusu Agyei, Director of Rural Fires, in a speech read on his behalf, revealed an increasing intensity of bushfires, drought, and floods in the country. He stated that since 2020, the country had recorded a total of 3,553 bushfires despite measures put in place by the GNFS to sustain and create awareness of the public on the impact of bushfires on businesses, the economy, and livelihoods of affected people.

‘It is very obvious that the responsibility of controlling and managing bushfires no longer resides in the domain of the Service alone but rather on all stakeholders, community members, and farmers,’ he added. He noted that the work and research of FONAR had come out with the most recent and appropriate ways of dealing with bushfire management and urged the participants to be good ambassadors and transfer the knowledge gained to help reduce incidents of rural fir
es.