Communities along the Volta River Basin in Ghana and Burkina Faso are planting trees along the banks of the river to discourage farming activities and prevent siltation, Mr Kwame Odame-Ababio, Project Coordinator of the Water Governance Project has said. He said the people were being supported by the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), to undertake alternative farming activities from the river banks like measures to improve soil fertility, dry season gardening, using water from wells and dams that the project rehabilitated and fruit tree grafting. Mr Odame-Ababio said this at the Ghana-Burkina Faso Joint Technical Committee meeting on Integrated Water Resources Management held in Bolgatanga on Wednesday. He explained that since the Volta River run through Ghana and Burkina Faso, they needed a strong collaboration to be able to work towards protecting the River and deriving the maximum benefits from it. The Project Coordinator said a Decision Support System (DSS) was being developed to quantitatively define the water resources of the part of the basin shared by the two countries at various flow scales. It would also serve as a tool for conflict resolution in relation to in-stream flows downstream. Mrs Agnes Chigabatia, Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, lauded the collaboration and said it would prevent unnecessary conflict between the two countries as frequent dialogue would enable them to work together and understand each other and enable them to take measures that would be agreeable to both countries. "We must strive to make the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) our platform and our opportunity to raise awareness on the importance accorded to water issues from the community level to the trans-national level. We must use our knowledge to inform our citizens about global warming, conscious utilization of water resources and the need for water and energy saving", she said. She asked JTC to look beyond water resources management and to implement programmes related to climate change and improved trade sharing and good governance, saying that the partnership should help the two countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Source: GNA.