Stakeholders working in the environmental sector have called on local assemblies in the Savannah Region to enact by-laws that are punishable enough to protect the environment.

According to them, the time has come for all especially, those at the Community and local assembly levels to back the efforts of World Vision Ghana on its EU LEAN Project towards proper conservation of the environment among others.

The stakeholders who included Traditional rulers and the Clergies, said this during a day's training programme organised by World Vision Ghana on EU LEAN project, thus Landscape Environmental Agility across the  Nation(LEAN) in Damongo in the West Gonja Municipality.

The Project Manager of World Vision Ghana EU LEAN, Joseph Edwin Yelkabong, said his outfit has identified some stakeholders as key players of the environment, hence the need to equip them with farmer-managed Natural Regenerated and Land restoration, principles to contribute effectively to the conservation of environment as custodians of the landscape.

"The Landscape and Environmental Agility across the Nation is part of efforts of conserving biodiversity, improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers, increasing climate change resilience and reducing emissions from Land use changes in the Savannah high forest and traditional zones of Ghana," Mr. Joseph Yelkabong stated.

He said in that regard, participants were impacted with knowledge of farmer-managed natural regenerated and land restoration principles so as to contribute effectively to the conservation of environment as the custodians of the Landscape in the Region.

The Chief of Bonyanto, Bonyantowura Kwarja noted that "trees are very important in our society because apart from their medicinal use, the vegetation also is key to our survival and rainfall pattern".

So, in my community, we have by-laws and what we need now is for the district assemblies to support us by enacting by-Laws and getting them and enacting without gazetting them. We cannot punish those who go contrary to the by-laws because they are not gazetted", He said.

On the gazette, the Presiding Member for West Gonja Municipal Assembly, Mumuni Mohammed stated that theirs as Local Assembly, is to pass and enforce bye-Laws and encouraged communities that have seen the need to have protected areas in their communities to come forward with bye-laws to the assembly for approval.

He however expressed concerns about some challenges in getting the bye-laws enforced.

"From the training, we have gone through, it is very important that we as the Clergy, we play roles by educating our congregation and communities that we live in so that we see how best we can preserve the environment," Rev. Gilbert Kwesi Agbefor.

Meanwhile, JoyNews checks in the Savannah Region has shown that the Savannah Ecological zone has over the years, gone through a series of abuses especially in the area of vegetation, and the implementation of the EU LEAN project in the Region will go a long way to preserve it from further negative excesses.