Short description of the best practice

A socio – cultural phenomenon which has significance for environmental management are sacred groves.  Sacred groves encourage the development and conservation of vegetation on the landscape and hence serve to promote biodiversity conservation and ecological balance. These groves are protected and maintained through a mechanism of taboos, prohibitions, beliefs and restrictions.  The adoption of enrichment planting of specific tree seedlings required by the community in Yiworgu.  This work involves the establishment of a nursery that produces tree seedlings for the replanting in the sacred grove area. The replanting is intended to join what have become three fragments of the grove back into one area. There is regulated entry into the sacred grove, access to  medicinal plants and other resources within the sacred grove are monitored.  The whole community continues to provide annual labour for the clearance of the fire break around the whole area. A livelihood support programme have been instituted through the provision of  the planned mango plantation, organised with the support of Environmental Protection Agency and the Integrated Tamale Fruit Company (ITFC), a private concern. A live fence had been planted for the mango area, which has been partially cleared.  Individual households also own beehives that have been placed in the sacred grove as a source of income.|

Location

Yiworgu - Northern Region

If the location has well defined boundaries, specify its extension in hectares:

14.0

Estimated population living in the location:

250.0

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

The Yiworgu area experiences a dry season from about October to April, during which temperatures often reach 40°C during the day. At nearby Tamale, March is the hottest month, with a mean temperature of 31.4°C. The rainy season normally lasts from May to September, and total mean annual rainfall for Tamale is 1,033 mm. But the distribution of rain within the season is erratic, and there is substantial variation from year to year.|
The area has gravel soils underlain by some oxidised lateritic material. There are signs of sheet and gully erosion in some parts of the area.
The area is largely flat

Prevailing socio-economic conditions of those living in the location and/or nearby

The main income sources are from peasant farming activities.
Hundred Ghana Cedis (Gh 100.00) per person per Annum
Yiworgu land is owned by its chief, in trust for the people of the community. The chief’s consent is required for any land use in the area, and is given in consultation between the chief and the community elders.|

On the basis of which criteria and/or indicator(s) (not related to The Strategy) the proposed practice and corresponding technology has been considered as 'best'?

Indigenous knowledge and beliefs of environmental management forms an integral part of drylands development activities. Traditional authorities are encouraged by the government institutions to designate more areas as sacred groves especially areas close to their gods.  The traditional authorities mobilize and sensitise the communities on the importance of re-afforestation and provide the necessary land space needed for the project.

Main problems addressed by the best practice

To conserve, rehabilitate and extend vegetative cover of trees, grasses and other natural resources. The sacred groves occupied by ancestral spirits are a common feature of the cultural landscape in Ghana. This conservation function is more central to community identity and the roles of chief and tindana (earth priest) are more closely integrated.  It protects their ancestral homes and sustain their indigenous beliefs and cultural systems.|

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

Given the risk posed by bush fires to properties and life an the continued deforestation The clearance of the fire break around the whole area

Specify the objectives of the best practice

To protect the land and its biodiversity

Brief description of main activities, by objective

A total ban imposed on resource use in the sacred grove.
The establishment of a nursery to produce seedlings for replanting of trees in the sacred grove area
Focused on the protection of forested resources of the sacred grove area and encouraged people to protect it, notably by the annual clearing of a fire breaks to protect the reserve forest.|

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

Demarcation of an area by traditional authority as Sacred Grove as a result of historical happens that has been artificially protected from human and natural disturbance for preservation for the the good of the community. The protected area the becomes a small refuge for a large variety of fauna and flora and a repository of numerous native species found nowhere else in the community in such large concentrations. It maintains a higher biodiversity than the original open-canopy forest. The grove then becomes an important source of both seeds and seed dispersers vital to traditional shifting cultivation practices, and of herbs for local medicinal, social, and religious purposes. While the grove is too small to be a primary watershed, its presence ensures that the water table remains high in the immediate area.|

Was the technology developed in partnership?

Yes

List the partners:

Co-operative Integrated Project on Savanna Ecosystems in Ghana (CIPSEG);
German Government;
UNESCO
Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation Project;
Traditional Authorities;
Tidaanas

Specify the framework within which the technology was promoted

• Local initiative
• National initiative – government-led
• Programme/project-based initiative

Was the participation of local stakeholders, including CSOs, fostered in the development of the technology?

Yes

List local stakeholders involved:

Yiworgu Community members;
Community Environmental Management Committees

For the stakeholders listed above, specify their role in the design, introduction, use and maintenance of the technology, if any.

The community members described their main goal as the creation of environmental and livelihood benefits for their children through reversal of the resource degradation that was then causing hardship in the community.
From 1993 to 1996 CIPSEG worked in the area, focusing on the degradation of the forested resources of the sacred grove area and encouraged people to protect it, notably by the annual clearing of a fire break. During the CIPSEG period, individually-owned teak plantations were also established. After CIPSEG ended, the local leadership visited EPA repeatedly to ask for more support.
Since 2002, the Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation Project (NSBCP) provided funding for further work in the area, which was coordinated by EPA. This work  included the establishment of a nursery that produces seedlings for the replanting of neem and other trees in the sacred grove area. The replanting was intended to join what have become three fragments of the grove back into one area. A total ban was imposed on resource use in the area. Even the chief, who was also a herbalist, now sends people to collect medicinal plants for him from other places further away, and not from the grove. Severe punishments were inflicted on anyone who sets a fire in the area.
The whole community continued to provide annual labour for the clearance of the fire break around the whole area. They also come together to cut poles for the planned mango plantation, which was organised with the support of NSBCP, EPA and the Integrated Tamale Fruit Company (ITFC), a private concern. A live fence was planted for the mango area, which was partially cleared. But the live fence was taking so long to grow that the community has now decided to use a pole fence instead. The idea was that individual households will have management responsibility for, and will be able to market the produce from, separately allocated sections of the community mango plantation. The ITFC has guaranteed a market for the fruit.|

Was the population living in the location and/or nearby involved in the development of the technology?

Yes

By means of what?

• Consultation
• Participatory approaches
• Other (please specify)

Describe on-site impacts (the major two impacts by category)

A marked regeneration of the trees and grasses in the protected area and this is combined with the new tree growth that has been planted, this creates a densely vegetated area even at the end of the dry season.|
Resource conservation and rehabilitation of degraded land could achieve substantial economic benefits.
There is also improve soil fertility in the ares.
The people appear to have realised few direct livelihood benefits from the activities. Those who have beehives in the grove would achieve some small-scale benefits from the honey they produce.
Protection of the soil against
There is effective governance of the sacred grove and effective management of the conservation work. It brings close institutional ties between traditional and modern institutions are likely to enhance the prospects of Natural Resource Management.

Describe the major two off-site (i.e. not occurring in the location but in the surrounding areas) impacts

There has been strong governance in Yiworgu for natural resource management and has generated real economic benefits for the population as well as combating desertification
There has been an improved soil fertility and agricultural productivity in agricultural lands around the sacred grove

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

No

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Yes

Where?

Other communities in the three Northern Regions of Ghana

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Yes

Specify which type of incentives:

• Financial incentives (for example, preferential rates, State aid, subsidies, cash grants, loan guarantees, etc)

Replicability

In your opinion, the best practice/technology you have proposed can be replicated, although with some level of adaptation, elsewhere?

Yes

Additional questions of Leg 1

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Science & Technology Institutions (STIs): District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies;|