Hon. Celina Caesar Chavannes Visits Muni-Pomadze Ramsar Site
Honorable Celina Caesar Chavannes, Parliamentary Secretary to the Canadian Prime Minster (Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau) together with a team led by Her Excellency, Heather Cameron, Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana paid a historic visit to the CFLI Community Mangrove Restoration project area within the Muni-Pomadze Ramsar site on Monday January 9, 2017. Honorable Celina Caesar Chavannes was in Ghana to represent the Canadian Government during the inaugural ceremony of Ghana’s New President, His Excellency, Nana Akuffo Addo.
The mangrove restoration project team from A Rocha Ghana, led by the National Director, Seth Appiah-Kubi and the Ramsar Site manager, Mr. Andrew Agyekumhene of the Forestry Commission jointly hosted the guests. The visiting team as part of their tour had the opportunity to assess progress made under the project’s implementation phase and also visited degraded mangrove sites which have been replanted by communities with support from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI).
Honorable Celina Caesar Chavannes and Her Excellency, Heather Cameron also made time during their visit to engage, dialogue and inspire the chief and community members especially, women groups who are direct beneficiaries of the project.
Other members of the visiting team included;
- Francis Bédros, First Secretary (Development), High Commission of Canada to Ghana
- Tina Guthrie, Minister-Counselor and Senior Director (Development), High Commission of Canada to Ghana
- Jenna Martinuzzi, Legislative Assistant, Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada
- Vidal Chavannes
- Bill Osborne
Significance of the Visit
The historic visit fosters the great partnership between A Rocha Ghana and the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry in promoting sustainable development, community resource management and livelihood enhancement as well as building coastal resilience against the impacts of Climate Change in Ghana.
About the CFLI Project at Winneba
In 2016, A Rocha Ghana in partnership with the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission and the Fisheries Commission, received support from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI) to restore degraded mangrove sites. The project as part of ongoing efforts aims at building coastal resilience against the impacts of climate change and improving the livelihood of communities, especially women groups engaged in fishery enterprises within the coastal landscape. The objectives of the project are in line with Goal 5, 9 and 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals.