From Samuel Agbewode
The ancient methods used in conserving the environment, such as declaring certain areas of the vegetation as sacred groves and shrines, which forms the core of the cultural heritage of the people of the Volta Region, has been endangered as a result of wrong interpretation of modernity, thereby making these values obsolete.
As a result, rituals and important ceremonies performed regularly to keep people away from destroying the vegetation have gradually been abandoned, just because there is no such place to offer rituals and celebrate, since they were destroyed through what has come to be known as modernisation, which refers to the traditional ways of protecting the environment as being primitive.
However, there is a new awakening in the region to educate the people to, at least, embrace the old method of protecting the environment through what could be described as vigorous public education by a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to protect the historic landscape of Ghana and the Volta Region, popularly called in Ewe as “Weto”, which is known in geography as trans-boundary mountain range referred to as the Togo-Atakora mountains, or the” Akwapim Togoland range”.
The NGOs trying to protect “Weto” from further destruction through human activity include the Development Institute, EDYM and YAWFO, which have held a durbar to launch what is called the Weto Platform, made up of NGOs, traditional rulers and the various stakeholders in environmental protection efforts in the region.
Speaking at the launch of the Weto Platform at Amedzofe, the highest human settlement in Ghana and a portion of Weto, the Executive Director of the Development Institute and the Interim Chairman of the Weto Platform, Mr. Ken Kinney, observed that the range should be seen as one of the important heritages of the country, and conscious efforts made to protect it for the benefit of the present and future generations.
Mr. Kinney described the Weto Range ecosystem as being in the state of environmental crisis, with the underlining cause being poverty, which led to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, uncontrolled soil erosion, degradation of water sheds leading to drying of water bodies, and pollution of existing rivers, which, he stressed, ought to be stopped.
He said the Platform would collaborate with stakeholders in the Republic of Togo and Benin, so as to ensure effective coordination of activities to ensure sustainable environmental practices.
He also noted that Ghana could have achieved much more development if the country had paid more attention to the development and use of internal resources, through the cultural values of the people as the basis for development.
Mr. Kinney emphasised that development at the Municipal and District levels should not be seen by the sale of timber and other natural resources to companies, which would only process the raw material for export, but that it was very important for stakeholders in development to pay more attention to sustainable systems of development, which ought to involve the citizenry.
He mentioned the indiscriminate cutting of trees for charcoal production, poor agricultural practices, and illegal timber harvesting as some of the factors that have been reducing the value of the Weto Range ecosystem.
He noted that the range protects high biodiversity and serves as home for many water bodies, saying the protection of the aesthetic beauty of the Weto range should be seen as the collective responsibility of all.
The Interim Chairman of the Weto Platform continued that the unique natural and cultural resources did not bring anything positive to the people living along the range as subsistence and small holder farming was the basis of a rural economy that suffered endemic poverty stressing that depletion of the vegetation and natural resources had become major sources of poverty.
According to Mr. Kinney, 40 communities had been identified along the range from Asikuma to Amedzofe to benefit from the activities of the Weto Platform, which would include sustainable development practices in the Weto landscape to improve the quality of life of the people, and help reduce poverty.
He said the Platform would work hard to protect the range and natural resources, including non-timber forest products such as Xylopia, Monodera and Piper Nigrum, which are popularly called in Ewe as “Etso, Ayiku, Agumetakui and Kale.”
He further noted that in the immediate future, the Platform would collaborate with district assemblies in their development planning, as well as the implementation of development activities.
The Country Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. George Ortsin, pointed out that the effective way for nations to develop was to ensure the prudent use of the natural resources like the Weto Range in Ghana, saying his outfit would support the Platform to enable it to achieve success.
Mr. Ortsin said the Weto Range is unique, because it had many waterfalls, caves, varieties of trees, plant species, and animals which could be developed to promote ecotourism that would generate more revenue for the nation.
He further added that three years ago, the UNDP saw the economic potential in the Weto Range, therefore, its involvement to help harness the full potentials of the range for the benefit of the nation.
The UNDP Coordinator stressed that efforts to protect and ensure sustainable economic activities of the range would not only lead to the development of the cultural heritage of the people, which would lead to socio-economic development, but also ensure that a more efficient method of eradicating poverty among the people living along the Weto range was achieved.
Mr. Ortsin disclosed that so far, 5,000 cocoa seedlings had been developed for distribution to farmers under the Weto Range programme to revamp the cultivation of cocoa, adding that Amedzofe has been noted for its large production of coffee in the past, and that efforts would be made to ensure that coffee farmers in the area start the production of the cash crop to enhance their income status.
He said the future plan of the Weto Platform should include the production of honey for export, adding that within five years, the effective use of the natural resources of the Weto Range would see massive development, and urged the Weto Platform to develop a strategy to promote an acceptable and sustainable development of the range.
The Chief of Amedzofe, Okusie Akyem Foli V, commended the members of the Weto Platform for their vision, saying the theme: “Consolidation of Bio-diversity Conservation and Sustainable Livelihood on the Weto Range”, was timely, because the change in climatic conditions of the country, coupled with human activities such as land degradation, was on the increase on the range.
Okusie Akyem Foli hoped that the Platform would work hard to restore the vegetative cover of the range, and sustainably harness its agricultural resources for the socio-economic transformation of the people.
He disclosed that indiscriminate deforestation had also resulted in streams and springs drying up, leading to severe water shortages in the communities.