By Maimuna Sey-Jawo
At least 25 journalists and four communication officers last Saturday concluded a training on information collection, writing and article publishing on natural resource management.
The three-day program ended at youth centre in Janjanbureh – CRR – organised by the Action Against Desertification (AAD) project under the Forestry department.
The training equipped participants with relevant information on natural resources management issues, and horned their knowledge on communication and development techniques.
The forestry department is implementing a three-year EU-funded project aimed at addressing land degradation and desertification in the northern bank of the River Gambia.
The project seeks to support the implementation of the “Great Green Wall for Sahara and Sahel Initiative” being executed by the FAO.
It has already engaged 28 community forest villages and 30 lower and basic cycle schools on restoration of ecosystems.
Ebrima Sanneh, regional forestry officer for CRR South said the existence of natural resources including forestry and trees is the lifeline of human and other organisms.
According to him, trees keep the world going.
“If we do not have trees, there may not be any carbon sinks which will eventually lead to the total depletion of the ocean layer.
This means global warming will rise to standards that are unbearable to life,” he stated.
The 1998 forest assessment survey showed there was unprecedented depletion of the natural resources, he added.
He said the results of the depletion of the country’s forest cover from 1998 to 2009, showed a loss of about 97, 000 hectares of forest cover…
“Other nationals massacred Gambia’s forest cover during the period while the citizens stood on the sidelines and watched.
These resources are vital to us but we are letting them go and as long as we continue to turn a blind eye, we will continue to undermine our own existence,” he warned.
Sanneh called on all and sundry to stand in the face of what he called “environmental injustice”.
Malang Jatta, focal person of the AAD project, said the project will address poverty, hunger and impacts of climate change through the implementation of activities that will promote sustainable forest/land management approaches/system.
