EPA, KATO COMMUNITY TO PROTECT FOREST RESERVE (BACK PAGE, OCT 16, 2010)

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Kato community in the Berekum municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region, has embarked on a programme to save the Mfensi Forest Reserve from further encroachment and destruction.
Already, 5,100 different types of indigenous trees, including Framo, Wawa, Kyenkyen and Cidrella, have been planted in the encroached portions of the forest.
In addition to the planting of trees, the EPA officials are educating the people of Mfensi on the relevance of the reserve to the community and the country.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the EPA, Mr Isaac Osei, and the Queen of Kato, Nana Afia Siraa Ababio II, led officials of the EPA, the people and students in the community to undertake a two-hour tree-planting exercise in some degraded portions of the about 40-hectare reserve.
For the past three years, the EPA, in association with the Kato traditional authorities, has been engaged in tree-planting activities to ensure that the hitherto rich biodiversity and national heritage was conserved for the present and future generations.
During an interaction with newsmen, Mr Osei expressed optimism that with the enthusiasm and zeal showed by the people, the area could become a miniature Kakum Park to attract tourists.
He observed that once the people themselves had come to realise and understand the significance of their own history, they ought not go about destroying their rich heritage but rather protect and preserve it at all times.
Nana Siraa disclosed that a 11-member committee, chaired by one Mr S.Y. Boakye, had been set up to oversee the effective protection of the groove, which she admitted was being encroached upon by certain unscrupulous persons in the area, saying, ‘‘We are educating them on the need to stop such encroachment.’’