The Department of Forestry with technical support from FAO Sustainable Development Dryland Forest Management Project organized regional bushfire award ceremonies within the four regions of the Country. The four days regional award ceremonies were done from 1 to 4 March 2021.The communities that benefitted from the forest fires awards were Fass Ngaga Choii NBR and Sabach Sukuta NBR and other communities in LRR CRR and URR.

Various communities received awards from the Department of Forestry to enhanced community forest management. The award ceremonies were characterized by deliveries of valuable materials to forest communities with outstanding performance to protect the forest against forest fires.

The initiative will further enhance community participation in sustainable forest management activities to ensure the continuous availability of forest products and services for the benefit of communities managing their forest parks.

During regional award ceremonies and consultations across the regions The Deputy Governor of CRR Hon Ousman Bah said that, Forest Fire prevention is key to support communities to address losses of animals and crops which are beneficial to the forest.

Communities that are champions of forest fires in CRR should encouraged various communities to learned from them, which involves community sensitizations.

He thanked the Dept of Forestry for the massive community outreach to prevent forest fires with the support from developing partners like FAO for making impacts on communities.

Lamin Saidybah Assistant Forestry Officer CRR North addressing the forest communities said that, Forest fires in CRR is a big challenge, farmers lost animals and crops during rainy seasons it's a responsibility of forest communities to come together to address the alarming forest fires.

Community outreach programs like bantaba's and massive sensitization need to be done by the Dept of Forestry and the forest communities.

Isatou Jawara

Communication Officer

MECCNAR