afrol News, 22 January - Ghanaian government has drafted a zone buffer policy document to conserve the country's most endangered river basins, Water Resources Commission (WRC) has announced.

According to a statement released by the commission and signed by the Commission's Public Relations Officer Ms Adwoa Munkua Dako the policy would ensure that all designated buffer zones along rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs or other surface water bodies would be adequately vegetated and sustainably managed.

"This is to restore and maintain the ecological integrity, as well as provide socio-economic benefits to local communities in fulfillment of Ghana's overall Water, Environment and land use policies, such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy," said the statement.

The statement also said, the policy was necessitated by human induced activities which have degraded the vegetative cover at headwaters and along the banks of many river systems and other surface water bodies.

The major objective of the policy includes promoting an efficient and sustainable use of buffer zone resources to address food security and income generation for local communities.

The basin's vegetation and landscapes of water bodies in Ghana provides a wide range of socio-economic and biophysical functions, according to the Commission.

"Poor and unrestrained practices such as uncontrolled logging and mining, human settlements, urbanization, livestock rearing and poor agricultural practices are jeopardising the physical quality of the environment," the statement read.

The hydrological and ecological support systems and the livelihoods of local inhabitants around these water bodies are also affected, it added.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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