Ghana’s Wildlife Resources Management Bill 2022, which seeks to boost ecotourism, job creation, and economic growth, is awaiting Presidential assent, Nyadia Sulemana Nelson, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, has said.
Briefing the media on the Commission’s activities for 2023, Mr Nyadia Sulemana Nelson said the Bill sought to revise and consolidate all laws relating to wildlife and protected areas to conform with existing policies and emerging trends in the natural resources sector and ensure the effective implementation of international conventions on wildlife.
The Bill also seeks to attract private investments into the establishment and management of zoos and private wildlife sanctuaries and giving legal backing to local communities in wildlife management through the creation of CREMAs.
“The private sector has already demonstrated interest in participating in the development of the sector, and since the government cannot do it alone, we need to create the enabling environment to attract the necessary private investments into the sector, with a strong regulatory framework,” Mr Nelson said.
The Deputy Chief Executive said Ghana had great potential in ecotourism, with abundant resources that it could harness to become one of the major ecotourism destinations in the world.
On his part, Richard Gyimah, the Director for Stakeholders, Ecotourism, and wildlife at the commission, explained that private participation in the wildlife sector in establishing zoos and wildlife parks would be in partnership with the Commission.
“We always say the private sector is the engine of growth, so this is another area we have identified that the private sector can partner with the government to induce growth in
the country. Already, we have been partnering with some private operators, but the law provides the legal backing to deepen that,” Mr Gyimah stated.
Mr Gyimah believed private investment would expand the subsector and create more jobs for tour guides, zookeepers, rangers, and the entire hospitality industry, adding that private participation would also provide access to more wildlife species for researchers and academic institutions and boost ecotourism in Ghana.
He said private sector participation would also help bring ecotourism in Ghana to international standards and generate more tourism revenue and foreign exchange.
“With private sector participation, we believe these revenue numbers will increase, and we will increase the revenue accruing to the state,” he said.
Statistics showed that the sector have seen remarkable growth in activities, especially after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From 300,000 visitors to ecotourism sites in 2022, the number has increased to nearly 400,000 in 2023, and the commission aims to attract at least 500,000 visitors in 2024.
Also, he said the visits generated 4.5 million Ghana cedis (374,000 U.S. dollars) in 2022 and 6.0 million cedis (499,000 dollars) for the commission this year.
In 2024, the Commission plans to supervise the successful completion of reclamation and revegetation activities in mined-out sites within the Denyau Shelterbelt, Supuma and Afao Hills Forest Reserves, submit Legal Acquisition Findings (LAF) for Rosewood to CITES Secretariat, Geneva and obtain approval for Rosewood quota and a US$7 million funding for private plantation development as well as cut sod for Koforidua Zoo project.
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