Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo attend Water Resources Management Conference

Category: Science /Technology Created on Monday, 27 August 2012 08:31 Published Date Written by GNA Hits: 231

Tenkodogo (Burkina Faso) , Aug 26, GNA - Delegations from Ghana , Burkina Faso and Togo  on Thursday attended  Water Resources Management Conference on the White Volta Basin at Tenkodogo in Burkina Faso to review, take stock and share experiences on the “project for improving Water Governance in  the White Volta Basin” for effective management.
     The surface area of the White Volta Basin is 400,000 Km2 and covered six countries namely Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Cote Ivory and Mali. Eighty per cent of the area is shared between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
     The International Union for the  Conservation of Nature(IUCN), under its Water and Nature Initiatives(WANI), had since 2004 been providing support for the Integrated Water Resources Management of the Basin under the “project for improving Water Governance in White Volta Basin” which  is now at its second ending stage.
     Speaking at the three-day conference dubbed: “The 2nd General Assembly of the White Volta Basin Trans-boundary Committee on Integrated Water Resources”
 the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, who is the current Chairman of the Committee,
said: “The fact that the Volta River System holds the potential for the socio-economic development of the people in the neighbouring regions calls for an integrated and well coordinated approach in the development and management of its water resources to address the endemic poverty of our people”.
    He said the Trans-boundary collaboration would help strengthen and accelerate the growth of the neighbouring regions and stressed that  apart from the cultural and economic bonds that exist between the three countries, they were also bonded by the same Volta River System.
     "That is nature’s way of telling us to see ourselves as one people with a common destiny,” he said.     
      On the spillage of the Bagre Dam , Mr Woyongo said the Government of Ghana had put in place arrangements for the construction of a multi-purpose dam on the White Volta at Pwalugu for the benefit of the people in the Upper East and Northern Regions of the country.
     He said upon completion in 2019, the dam would generate electricity and irrigate over 100,000 hectares of land. It would also curtail the periodic devastation caused as a result of the spillage of the Bagre Dam and promote water transport and fishing activities.
     He however expressed concern about the spate of the usage of dangerous chemicals for fishing in the basin and indicated that the practice did not only affect the living organisms in the basin but it affected human beings and animals since majority of people used the water while animals also drunk from it and called for a stop to it.
      He said the Tripartite meeting scheduled among the neighbouring countries in September at Manga would deliberate on effective strategies to address the menace and commended the IUCN for providing a common platform for the neighbours and supporting them in the Management of the Water Resources.
    The Second Vice Chairman of the Committee, Mr Seydou Mossiyamba of Togo, expressed a similar sentiment about the attitudes of some of the nomads from the neighbouring countries who destroyed farms and terrorized some women and sexually harassed them.
    The Ghanaian delegation included the District Chief Executive for Bawku Municipal, Mr Musah Abudulai, District Chief Executive for Garu-Tempane, Mr David Adakudugu and Alhaji Imoro Anaba, and some district agriculture directors, forestry, regional and districts planners.

      Mr Abdualai, on behalf of his colleagues, praised the authorities for the benefits accrued from the implementation of the project and said it had improved upon the lives of the people in the three districts.