Sédhiou, June 28 (APS) – The Natural Resources Management Project in Senegal (SENRM), will develop two forests and create 15 income-generating projects in the Sédhiou region, said Thursday, Ndèye Coura Mbaye, coordinator of the environment component of the management unit of the said project.
“SENRM plans to develop two forests and create 15 income-generating projects in the Sédhiou region,” said Ms. Mbaye.
She was speaking during an information and sharing meeting on the objectives of the Natural Resources Management Project in Senegal (SENRM), chaired by the deputy governor of Sédhiou in charge of administrative affairs, Oumar Galla Ndiaye.
“In addition to forest management, SENRM aims to create income-generating projects for local communities,” she said.
“It will also set up new air quality measuring stations in its areas of intervention and strengthen the quality control stations,” she added.
She indicated that the project is implemented by the Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition and that of Fisheries, Maritime and Port Infrastructure, in the regions of Kaffrine, Kédougou, Kolda, Sédhiou and Tambacounda, for the Environment component.
It also operates in the regions of Dakar, Fatick Saint-Louis, Thiès and Ziguinchor, as well as Kédougou, Kolda and Sédhiou, where SENRM targets the fishing component, she added.
Ndèye Coura Mbaye also indicated that the project particularly targets, in this part of the country, “the fight against illicit timber trafficking which is an absolute priority of the government”.
“SENRM intends to make its contribution to this cause by strengthening monitoring and updating the forest management plans in its area of intervention,” she argued.
The mayor of Djinany, Moussa Fadera welcomed the arrival of this program and invited local elected officials to take ownership of it, while relaying its importance to the local population.
“The mayors of the municipalities concerned by the project must popularize its importance, in terms of environmental protection, job creation and reduction of unemployment among the populations,” he said.
The deputy governor of Sédhiou in charge of administrative affairs, Oumar Galla Ndiaye, called on local authorities, youth associations and women’s groups to get involved to enable this project to achieve its objectives.
“There is a need for the involvement of the local community in the process of implementing the project, in order to achieve the expected objectives before the end of the program,” he recommended, deploring the extent of illegal logging and bush fires in the area.
Project leaders, local stakeholders and representatives of decentralized State services took part in this meeting which took place in the conference room of the Sédhiou Chamber of Trades.
The Senegal Natural Resources Management Project (SENRM) is financed by the World Bank to the tune of 100 million dollars (61,450,000,000 FCFA), for a period of six years (2022 to 2028).
The government’s objective, through this project, is to improve, by 2028, the management of fishery and forest resources as well as access to economic opportunities in target areas which cover almost the entire national territory.
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