On International Day of Forests 2025, UNU-INRA's researcher, Dr. Ferdinand Tornyie and Reginald Osei-Akoto(Atiwa West CREMA president), spoke on Joy News Ghana, to highlight the importance of forests and the need to empower local communities to manage their natural resources.
This day was to commemorate the collaborative work between UN agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, UNEP/ UNU-INRA), traditional authorities, CSOs (OEF, A Rocha-Ghana and partners), and government ministries and departments on the FOREST Okyeman project.
This project seeks to provide a sustainable means of addressing key interconnected challenges on forest degradation in the area relating to economic, environmental, political, educational, nutrition, and health insecurities through a human security approach.
What makes the Forest Okyeman project unique in its approach is that, it aims at safeguarding natural resources and assisting communities to revive existing resource management groups and establish landscape-level governance structures through the Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA) model.
The CREMA model, made up of farmers, local chiefs, government representatives, opinion leaders, private sector, and landowners, was created to co-manage natural resources and create awareness, address violations, strengthen accountability, and build capacity on best agroforestry practices, while empowering the local communities to manage their natural resources.
In 2024, UNU-INRA joined the FOREST Okyeman project to provide the following outputs :
- Empower the local communities to manage their natural resources and ensure benefits are distributed equitably.
- Develop resource management groups and establish landscape-level governance structures.
- Advance Sustainable Development and Conservation Efforts
- Foster Community Engagement and Ownership
- Develop natural resource management by-laws for the Atiwa West district assembly.
- Assist the communities to establish Effective Governance Structures and developing.
The FOREST Okyeman project has brought together natural resource management and legal experts to build the capacity of fifty-six (56) executives of CREMA and 464 people across eight (8) communities in responsive and accountable management of natural resources in Atiwa West District.
