She was speaking at the opening of a two-week National Exhibition on Nature Conservation in Ghana at the Accra City Hotel.The exhibition is in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and aimed at sensitizing stakeholders on the economic potentials in conserving the environment.

Already, the country has made significant strides to list Lake Bosomtwe as a World Biosphere Reserve.“In the meantime we have achieved listing Lake Bosomtwe as a World Biosphere Reserve. The present focus is on the Mole National Park adding that the listing of the Akwamu Gorge as a world heritage site is the next,” Mrs Svanikier, who is also Ghana’s Ambassador to France, said.

She said the exhibition was meant to garner support for the government’s bid to have Mole National Park listed as a World Heritage Site.“Mole National Park has been on the tentative list for listing as World Heritage Site and we thought to bring attention to Ghanaian because we need the collaboration of Ghanaians to be able to get it ready to be listed. When it is listed, it becomes not only a Ghanaian park but an international one as well,” she said.

Opening the exhibition, Nii Osae Mills, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, called for partnership among all stakeholders to harness the potential of the numerous tourists attractions to enhance the economy.

He said apart from the nature reserves, there were waterfalls that presented beautiful scenes that attract both local and foreign tourists.Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, the CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), said GIPC was more interested in attracting investment into nature conservation related sites to enhance domestic and foreign tourists visit.

“Nature conservation is becoming a very important topic globally and having the opportunity to showcase rare plants and animal species and inviting both the Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian tourist communities means that more services will be required, more auxiliary services which create economic opportunities for the local communities,” she said.

She said communities with tourist attractions could achieve poverty reduction through investments and proper conservation management.