Women’s access to fertile land and information way to combat desertification-UW EPA boss

The Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr Emmanuel Lignule has stressed that expanding women’s access to fertile land and information on sustainable agriculture and land management was one of the ways to combat desertification and drought.

The director noted that women paid attention to detail and would engage in sustainable agriculture if they were given adequate training on the theme and how it would help prevent desertification and promote sustainable land use.

Mr Lignule stated this on Friday when the region joined the rest of the country to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought to create awareness on the impact of gender equality on land restoration measures in order to influence stakeholders to device measures to combat it.

The day was observed on the theme; ‘’Her land. Her right, advancing gender equality and land restoration goals’’.

Mr Lignule indicated that land restoration and sustainable land management to combat desertification and mitigate the effect of drought was a shared responsibility of everyone and said combating desertification involved using land in ways that prevented or reduced its degradation.

He noted that desert conditions served as challenges to socio-economic development and said it included a decline in supply of wood and non-wood forest products for various uses and low agricultural yield leading to poverty and increased gender inequality.

‘’The purpose of this year’s celebration is to raise awareness on the underlying causes of desertification and drought and to also inspire stakeholders to support the advancement of women’s land right’’, he said.

He said land degradation in regions with prolonged dryness led to the formation of desert conditions such as dry lands with low biological and economic productivity, sparse vegetation and scarcity of water.

He urged stakeholders in land management to take measures to increase women’s access to land and to secure lands right to encourage upscaling of land restoration and sustainable land management.

The Chief Director at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Mr Peter Maala highlighted that land degradation was the core environmental challenge in the region and said it threatened ecosystem services such as water flow and quality regulation.

This he said had been a major source of worry for leadership of the region since majority of people in the region were engaged in agriculture as their only source of livelihood.

He called on stakeholders to support government’s efforts at increasing access to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in order to reduce dependence on wood fuel, as well as controlling devastating wildfires and encouraging diversity to livelihood to increase resilience to drought.

The programme brought together staff of the Regional Coordinating Council, traditional authorities, religious leaders, heads of departments and stakeholders across the region.

FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK WA