One of the most effective ways to preserving The Gambia’s diminishing forest cover, it is believed, is to empower and capacitate traditional communicators.
This is a medium that sensitises local communities through drama and traditional songs, using messages that imbue a sense of ownership in locals in the campaign to protecting their local natural resource.
It is against this backdrop that a three-day sensitisation programme for traditional communicators was organised by the National Network of Climate Change Communicators (NNCCC) in collaboration with the Gambia National Forestry Programme facility (NFP) and World Food Programme (WFP). The event was held the St. Joseph’s farms training center in Bwiam, West Coast region.
Omar Ngum, an expert in community research and development told the participants that expectations are so high on them in helping communicate to the local communities to understand the aims and concept of National Forest Programme facility (NFP). 
Ngum said the project will build their capacities in an effort for them to take ownership in the protection, preservation and conservation of their remaining forest cover for the benefit of the future generation. 
Ngum described the local traditional communicators as intellectuals as they though do not use pens and books, yet understand everything that you teach them. 
He added: “They can also turn what they have learned from songs and theatres, through which they spell out their message to their target audience. 
He said in 2005, the Gambia Forestry Concept was founded under the auspices of Department of Forestry to ensure that the Gambian forest cover is sustainably managed and protected, noting that the traditional communicators will help communities know the different stages in the implementation of community forestry polices.    
Ismaila Senghore, coordinator the National Network of Climate Change Communicators (NNCCC) appealed to the trainees to disseminate the information and knowledge learned.
He said the objective of community forestry (CF) is to empower the local rural communities in the protection of their own natural resources. 
It could be recalled that it is through such community based holistic process that The Gambia’s Community Forestry Policy has won silver in the 2011 Future Policy Awards as one of the world’s most inspiring and innovative forest policies. 
Three policies which most effectively contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of forests for current and future generations were chosen as prizewinners by the World Future Council at UN Headquarters in New York.  
Rwanda’s National Forest Policy claimed the first prize while the US Lacey Act and The Gambia’s Community Forest Policy shared the Silver Award.  
The Gambia, with the support of FAO and other development partners, has developed and implemented the first policy and legislation in Africa to provide local populations with secure and permanent forest ownership rights.
Transferring forest tenure from state ownership to management by local communities enabled the country to reduce illegal logging and forest fires, slow desertification and benefit from using forest products. 
“The success of the Gambia’s Community Forest Policy proves that even in the world’s poorest countries, with the right policies and legal framework in place, rural populations can benefit economically from forests and significantly improve their food security and environment,” said FAO’s Assistant Director-General for Forestry Eduardo Rojas-Briales.  FAO Goodwill Ambassador Carl Lewis, who attended the Awards ceremony, said that “the Gambia’s people-centered approach has been highly successful and represents a model to replicate in other countries with similar forestry environment”.
The facility aims to improve the livelihood of forest dependant communities through sustainable income generation based on forest product utilization amongst other things. As one of the most important outcomes of the forest policy dialogue after the UNCED world summit in Rio, NFP is the first commonly agreed framework in pursuit of sustainable forest management, which is applicable to all countries and to all types of forests.  
Hence, an NFP serves as a framework to put international agreements on sustainable forest management into practice and is understood as an umbrella term, a product of consensus, to which all participating countries agree.    
The areas dealt during the two-day training includes bushfires, tree planting, management, community sensitization, desertification, drought, tree-felling, etc.