Ghana's Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) mechanism, is an innovative natural resource governance and landscape-level planning tool that authorizes communities to manage their natural resources for economic and livelihood benefits.

It was developed by Ghana's Wildlife Division, an arm of the Forestry Commission, together with its partners, to support community resource management in off-reserve (un-gazetted) lands. CREMAs fill a critical gap by giving communities the right to manage and benefit economically from their natural resources.

The communities surrounding the Bia Conservation Area (BCA) in the Western Region of Ghana have four CREMAs, namely Elluokrom, Asempaneye, River Asuopri and Kwamebikrom CREMAs. The CREMAs have decision-making structures with an executive body and a constitution that guides the activities and regulations of the CREMA.

As part of efforts to improve the management of the CREMAs, Conservation Alliance (CA) and the Wildlife Division organized a series of training activities under the GEF/FAO transboundary project. More than 300 persons from 15 communities benefitted from the training that covered Tree planting, Sustainable land management, Monitoring ecological health of CREMAs and Traditional conservation practices. During the same period, the project team trained 89 CREMA executives to support the management of natural resources within the Bia-Juabuso landscape.

In an interview, the International Coordinator, Abigail Frimpong, explained that the GEF/ Transboundary project seeks to enhance the ecological health and the livelihoods of the people within the Ghana- Cote d’Ivoire corridor. She explained that the training of CREMA communities is among a series of activities being undertaken to restore degraded fields, promote tree cultivation on farms, promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural (cocoa) practices and enhance understanding of the value of biodiversity.

She lamented about the illegal hunting of wildlife within the CREMA landscape and the lack of support for the initiative by the government and donors. She cautioned that this initiative that puts communities at the centre of resource management risks collapse unless urgent measures are taken to support the sustainability of the project.

She was grateful to the GEF/FAO for the funding support and praised all partner institutions particularly the Wildlife Division, FORIG, IITA, Institute of Forester, the District Assemblies and the traditional leaders, for their commitment.

 modernghana.com