The Refinishing Touch Blog

With so many new green initiatives that are taking place around the world, we at the Refinishing Touch are always keeping an eye out for those that stand out – no matter how far-flung the location.

Today, we’re traveling an estimated 5,600 miles (take a few miles) to Ghana in Africa West, which recently launched its Agricultural Sustainable Land Management Strategy (SLM) and Action Plan. This plan is to be executed throughout the rest of 2009 and 2010 in response to its particularly high rate of land degradation. It’s part of the Ghana Strategic Investment Framework for SLM developed by a partnership of organizations including the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Bank.

Land degradation costs Ghana about two percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product, and most agricultural lands rate below average on productivity. Ghana’s land is further damaged due to its generally fragile ecosystems and their traditional farming techniques such as “slash and burn,” which consists of cutting and burning forests to create fields for agriculture. These traditional methods can sometimes render soil useless for years and do not allow for future land improvement and sustainability.

This new plan encourages financial support for improved fertilizers, the advancement of new land development technologies, the strengthening of land resources and the importance of including food security and commodities development in government work plans and budgets.

It is incredibly inspirational to see how these initiatives in Ghana are aimed at solving issues that will benefit both the nation and the environment as a whole. According to its government leaders, Ghana depends on agriculture for most of its social and economic development, and while this plan is only an initial suggestion, it is a giant step in the right direction for a developing country that has an abundance of natural resources to manage and an enormously promising future.

Around the world different governments, communities, and environments face the same difficulties – how to live with minimal impact and work together to protect the environment. Specific situations may vary a great deal, but the underlying challenge are always the same.