UDS conservation workshop ends


The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified three program areas to advance the work on nature conservation. 

The Regional Director, IUCN West & Central Africa, Prof. Aime J. Nianogo announced this at a two-day seminar on “Integrating Ecosystems Approach into Natural Resources Management”. 

Prof. Nianogo mentioned the three program areas as “valuing and conserving nature”, “promoting and supporting effective and equitable governance of natural resources” and lastly, “deploying nature-based solutions to address societal challenges”. 

Radio Ghana’s Correspondent, Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo reports that the seminar was particularly a matter of necessity for the University for Development Studies (UDS) as a result of the significant ecosystem degradation in the three regions of the north that are considered as the University’s catchment area. 

The seminar which was organized for staff and graduate students of the Wa Campus of UDS is the fruit of a partnership between IUCN and UDS in a project dubbed “Improving Livelihood in Landscapes in the Volta Basin through Strengthening Farmer-led Approaches to Ecosystem-based Management” funded by “Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Program on Water, Land and Ecosystem (WLE).
 
The event was aimed at helping the participants to mainstream ecosystem approaches into research for development.
 
Touching on what he termed “worrying facts” Prof. Nianogo said 13 million hectares of forests are being lost annually whilst the persistent degradation of dry lands has led to the desertification of three point six billion hectares.
 
He continued that every year, millions of people, mostly children die from diseases associated inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. 

Prof. Nianogo observed that the negative trends are partly linked to our quest to develop without taking account of the role of nature in development and human well-being. 

This, the Regional Director for IUCN West & Central Africa intimated partly informs the Union’s identification of three program areas to advance the work on nature conservation. 

The Dean of Graduate School of UDS, Prof. Herbert Dei who deputised for the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye said the University will not relent in its efforts in ushering in new programs that could better the development of the North and Ghana in general. 

He pointed out that the seminar was in line with the University’s pursuance of its mandate in teaching, research and community outreach.
 
Prof. Dei said in spite of the abundance of natural resources, many rural communities in Ghana are impoverished “as a result of our inability to sustainably use our resources”. 

An Agricultural and Environmental Economist, Jacques Somda stated that researchers should not be engrossed in having their researches published in scientific journals and called for a shift in approach where they will court and gain the confidence of decision makers for them to buy into their research works for policy implementation. 

He said the quest for researchers to have their products published in “a high level journal” is rewarding in terms of their career progression, but if they want their research to influence policy in Africa for societal benefit, they need to get connected to decision makers. 

A former Pro Vice Chancellor of UDS and Principal Investigator of the Research Project in the Volta Basin, Prof. Saa Dittoh suggested the integration of ecosystems services idea into post graduate courses in UDS, adding that the future of development is going to be strongly on ecosystems-based approach. 

He announced that research has shown that naturally grown shea trees have higher yield and a better quality of shea butter that those cultivated. 

Prof Dittoh was quick to add that they are yet to understand why the big difference and that a little more research should be done on these naturally grown trees to really understand them very well and see even how we can do natural regeneration.

He said “in Burkina Faso, they have gone back to natural regeneration partly because they have noticed that this is exactly what is happening”.  

The Vice Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Development Studies (FIDS) of UDS, Dr Frank Teng-Zeng who represented the Dean of FIDS, Dr. Sylvester Z. Galaa admonished the graduate students to apply themselves dutifully at the seminar in order to grasp what will make their research meaningful and useful to the country. 

Dr. Teng-Zeng equally told the lecturers to view the event as a good opportunity to update their knowledge for improved pedagogical skills. 

A Lecturer of UDS and Organizer of the Seminar, Dr. Dzigbodi Doke observed that their project is unique in terms of synergy, saying “whatever we do in the communities is fed back into the communities through what we call platforms, so we have several platforms at the community, district and regional levels”. 

Dr. Doke indicated that whatever is found in a community in respect of research is translated back for the improvement of the particular community.

GBC