President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has intimated that government is on a quest restore Ghana’s lost forest cover through innovative intervention like the Green Ghana Project.
Ghana’s forest cover in the 1900s which stood at some 8 million hactares has now been reduced to about 1 million hactares. Factors including indiscriminate logging of trees, illegal small scale mining and farming are said to have contributed to the massive loss of Ghana’s vegetative cover.
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To reverse the further loss of Ghana’s vegetative cover, government has introduced different interventions and programmes one of which is the clamp-down on illegal small scale mining in the country.
Speaking at the commemorative tree planting event at the Jubilee House on Friday, 11th of June, 2021, President reckoned that Ghanaians must act now to salvage the current trend of vegetative loss. “We don’t have the day after tomorrow to do this, we have to act now. As the co-chair of the eminent group of advocates of the 2030 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, I am leading Ghana today to plant these five million trees as part of a master plan of the Green Ghana Agenda”, the president stated.
According to the president, the nationwide exercise which was climaxed today will not be a one-off event. All other afforestation programmed implemented by the Forestry Commission and other agencies will be sustained, the president intimated. Other interventions and programmes, according to the President, will be implemented to ensure sustainable exploitation of Ghana’s natural resources.
“I want to ensure the Ghanaian people that government is determined to ensure the survival of the over five million trees being planted today. Together we must and will protect our environment and our ecosystem. We must contribute to the world’s agenda of combatting global warming. We have to protect planet earth and our motherland Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo, however, has made an appeal to all Ghanaians to embrace the Green Ghana Initiative introduced by government and being driven by the energetic minister of Lands and Natural Resources, the Member of Parliament of Damango, Samuel Abu Jinapor. The President describes the initiative as an ambitious one and that government will put in place the necessary efforts to sustain it.
The Green Ghana agenda, the President made known, will be an annual event. Tree planting targets will be reviewed upward on an annual basis. President Akufo-Addo has thus expressed profound appreciation to all Green Ghana Ambassadors who have embraced the initiative and are committed to supporting this national agenda.
The president has admonished Ghanaians to resolve to nurture, grow and protect the trees that have been planted until maturity. This he says will bequeath unto the next generation and their communities, richer and a more valuable forest and wildlife endowment than the current generation inherited.
READ MORE: Green Ghana Project: Over 7 million seedlings distributed
According to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the logistics, manpower and participation in this exercise are national, broad-base, non-partisan, citizenship owned and anchored on collective action.
Mr. Jinapor in his remarks indicated that the government has a goal of planting about 100 million trees in a day in subsequent commemorations of Green Ghana Day. To sustain the culture of tree planting, particularly among children and the youth, the minister disclosed that Green Ghana Clubs will be established in different educational institutions across the country to support the efforts the Green Ghana Agenda.
A monitoring team has been constituted and it is headed by the Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, John Allotey. The committee is tasked to oversee the nurturing and monitoring the growth and the trees that have been planted.
The Green Ghana Day is in accordance with the vision, and pursuant to the instructions of the President of the Republic of Ghana H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to restore forest cover of Ghana within the shortest possible.
To commemorate the day, some 5, 280, 000 trees, including fruit trees and ornamentals, forest/shade/multipurpose trees have been planted.
