Upper West landowners sensitised to sustainable sand winning

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has schooled landowners (Tendaama) in the Upper West Region on sustainable methods of sand winning and charcoal burning.

The aim of the exercise was to build the capacities of the landowners to stop the uncontrolled degradation of the environment through sand winning and the wanton felling of the few trees that they have, especially the economic and nutritional ones such as dawadawa, baobab and shea nut trees, to produce charcoal.

Sand winning in some parts of the region is leaving, in its wake, vast tracts of land that cannot support agriculture.

It is also common to see the economic trees being cut down to serve as fuel for domestic and commercial use.

To bring the challenge to the public notice, officials of the EPA took media practitioners on a trip to some of the devastated sites at Sing, a farming community in the Wa Municipality, last Saturday.

The trip formed part of activities marking this year’s national celebration of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, in Wa, last Friday.

It was on the theme “Her Land, Her Right:

Advancing Gender Equality and Land Restoration Goals”.

Sand winning

The Acting Regional Director of EPA, Emmanuel Lignule, said sand was an important ingredient in the construction sector, which contributed to the development of the industry through the supply of raw materials.

He said it was, however, being mined unsustainably, thus aggravating the effects on livelihoods, food insecurity, migration and changes in gender roles.

Mr Lignule said landowners, after taking a few cedis from prospective customers, allowed them to win the sand without any supervision when it came to taking care of the environment.

He cautioned that the topsoil that supports agriculture should not be indiscriminately removed, since the area depended heavily on the single rainy season that had been erratic in recent times. 

Sing residents

A farmer at Sing, Abudu Osman, called for collaboration with the EPA to ensure that the degradation of the land due to human activities was curbed in the area.

He said this will prevent the land from turning into a desert, which will result in poverty.

Mr Osman said since degraded land took a long time to be restored to its natural state if care was not taken, the future was going to be bleak for those unborn.

A student, Danaa Issahaque, called for a halt to the indiscriminate cutting down of trees and winning of sand, because the trees assisted in the restoration of the land.

He wondered why charcoal was rather being supplied to the south where forests abounded.

He said climate change had been found to be one of the causes of migration in the northern part of the country because it had immense effects on livelihoods.

A trader, Fatima Abu, lamented that most of the economic trees that were providing them sustenance whilst they worked on their farms, such as shea nut fruits, baobab and dawadawa, had all been cut down, either for firewood or charcoal, while some of the rivers had dried up as a result of the practice.

She said that, for instance, the shea butter served as the edible oil that was used for frying food and the baobab fruits and leaves served as alternative food during the dry season.

Ms Abu said the baobab trees also served as a habitat for bees and consequently allowed honey production while honey served as an alternative food during the dry season, as well as a means of livelihood.