l Sacred groves versus gold mines: biocultural community protocols in Ghana 129
ing a community strategy for the conservation of the sacred groves in partnership
with the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative.
The Tindangem, traditional leaders and
the communities’ youth will be making
field exchange visits to other communities
in Ghana that have successfully managed
to protect their sacred groves. The process
of developing a community strategy for the
conservation of their sacred groves and
resources has put into practice the communities’ traditional knowledge and practices
that are also part of their BCP. As the
community will be developing its own
conservation strategy for its sacred groves
and biocultural heritage it will also be alerting the mining company and government
actors to the international guidelines of the
CBD, UNESCO and IUCN, specifically
designed to assist external companies and
institutions to work with sacred places
(Wild and McLeod, 2008; Secretariat of
the Convention on Biological Diversity
2004).
The conservation planning process
itself is based on the communities’ own
biocultural resources and will lead to a
locally relevant conservation strategy.
Together with CIKOD, the community will
seek all information required in order to
create an endogenous and informed planning process which may potentially also
include new allies and stakeholders that
support the conservation strategy. The
envisioned outcome of this process is not
just the conservation of the sacred groves
but also to support the sustainable use of
the community’s natural resources together
with other actors. The latter can be
achieved through developing socioeconomic activities that form alternatives
to mining such sheanut harvesting, attracting eco-tourism and creating productive
buffer zones around the groves.
CONTACT DETAILS
Bernard Guri Yangmaadome
Executive Director
CIKOD
PO Box CT4131
Accra
Ghana
Email: benguri@cikod.org,
bernguri@gmail.com
Website: www.cikod.org
Daniel Banuoku Faabelangne
Regional Coordinator
CIKOD
PO Box CT4131
Cantonments Accra
Ghana
Tel: +233 208332241
Email: fdanus@yahoo.com
Website: www.cikod.org
Emmanuel Kanchebe Derbile
Lecturer
Faculty of Planning and Land Management
University for Development Studies
UPW3, Wa Campus, Wa, UWR
Ghana
Tel: +233 244516896
Email: derbile_uds@hotmail.com
4 See: http://sacrednaturalsites.org