The Forestry Commission yesterday launched two online applications, the digitalised property mark registration and renewal (e-property mark registration) and the electronic wood tracking system to boost its operations.
The e-property mark registration is a web-based application which automates the process of property mark registration and renewal, while the electronic wood tracking system allows the tracking of wood from the time of harvest to the time of final disposal.
Launching the applications, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, said President Akufo-Addo’s vision to promote socio-economic development through digitisation cuts across all aspects of the national life.
“The technological infrastructure for accessing the international timber market and attracting the requisite investment demand a level of sophistication that yesterday’s systems and norms can no longer respond to. We must, therefore, innovate constantly, and keep pace with the technological advancements necessary to access the international market,” the Minister said.
The Minister said the forest resources of Ghana contribute significantly to the economy, and the government is committed to sustainably managing them to ensure that future generations and communities have a better, richer and more valuable forests and wildlife endowments.
Timber industry
With regard to the timber industry, he said government had commissioned a study aimed at revamping the timber industry, to position the country to take its rightful place on the international timber market.
Mr Jinapor added that the electronic wood tracking system, which was developed with the help of the British Government, and will be powered by solar, forms part of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade initiative, which seeks to ensure that only legal wood is traded on the market.
Degraded lands
The Minister also inspected a reclamation site in the Bosome Freho District, where he said the lack of reclamation over the years had resulted in many degraded mining lands across the country.
He said, as part of the fight against illegal mining and the destruction of the environment and water bodies, the government had developed a robust reclamation programme to be pursued by the Minerals Commission, the Forestry Commission and the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme across the country.
The Minister also said the Ministry is considering the establishment of a National Reclamation Fund to support the programme. He said the capital-intensive nature of the exercise requires that a dedicated fund is set aside to carry out the exercise.
He said, to prevent future occurrences of degraded mining lands, government is now implementing a concurrent reclamation policy, where miners will be required to reclaim and revegetate any place they excavate before they move on.
He said although the law enjoins small scale miners to reclaim and revegetate lands within one month after their operations, most of them refuse to comply with this law, resulting in the many degraded lands across the country.
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