Tree planting is easy, nurturing is the test

Ghana marked World Environment Day yesterday by launching the 2026 edition of the Tree for Life Restoration Initiative with an ambitious target to plant 30 million tree seedlings nationwide before the rains end. It is a worthy goal. 

But if the lessons of 2025 mean anything, the Daily Graphic believes the real measure of success will not be how many seedlings go into the ground. It will be how many survive to become trees that cool our cities, protect our water bodies and sustain livelihoods.

The breakdown announced by the  government at the Accra launch is clear and encouraging.

Of the 30 million seedlings, 13.2 million will be planted on government plantations, 12.2 million on private plantations, 3.5 million on farms, two million as amenity planting in towns and cities and 279,000 as enrichment planting in degraded forest reserves. 

Last year, Ghanaians planted 31 million trees under the same initiative.

That was a remarkable collective effort by the government institutions, traditional authorities, schools, religious bodies, CSOs, communities and the private sector.

The Forestry Commission reports that 23,600 hectares of degraded landscape were put under restoration, and that survival rates reached about 85 per cent in the high forest zone and 78 per cent  in the Northern Savannah Zone.

Planting ceremonies are easy and photogenic.

Watering through the dry season, protecting seedlings from fire and grazing, and monitoring growth for three to five years is hard, unglamorous work. 

The 2026 edition rightly places strong emphasis on post-planting care, monitoring and maintenance.

That emphasis must be funded, tracked and enforced.

The timing and theme could not be more urgent.

The UN’s global theme for World Environment Day 2026 is “Inspired by Nature.

For Climate. For Our Future.” Ghana’s local theme,

“Forest and Economies,” captures the same truth: healthy forests and healthy economies go together.

We are being reminded that forests support agriculture, supply raw materials for industry, regulate water systems, create jobs and build climate resilience.

Environmental protection and economic prosperity are mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development, not competing goals.

Ghana feels climate change daily.

Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, flooding, coastal erosion and declining forest cover are no longer future threats.

They are present realities threatening food security, water, public health and growth.

The 30 million trees targeted for 2026 are therefore not a symbolic gesture.

They are infrastructure—green infrastructure that will sequester carbon, reduce urban heat, stabilise riverbanks and recharge groundwater.

Some priorities must guide this year’s exercise if we are to move from targets to lasting impact.

First, ownership at community level. Schools should adopt plots and integrate tree care into science and civic education.

Traditional authorities and district assemblies must designate community forest guards.

When people see “their” trees, they protect them 

We must protect existing forests with equal vigour.

All stakeholders must collaborate to protect forests.

Planting 30 million new trees while illegal logging, mining in forest reserves, and wildfires continue is like fetching water with a perforated bucket. 

Churches and mosques can make tree care part of stewardship sermons.

We are not starting from zero. We have the policy, the agencies and the public goodwill.

The 85 per cent survival rate in the high forest zone shows what is possible when monitoring is taken seriously.

Now we must replicate that discipline nationwide, especially in the

Northern Savannah where survival drops to 78 per cent and water stress is highest.

This year, let us respond differently—not just by planting, but by nurturing.

Let us water them, shield them from fire, and watch them grow.

Thirty million trees is a bold target. 

If we meet it and keep them alive, it will be one of the most patriotic acts Ghanaians perform this year.

The rains are here.

The seedlings are ready.

The future is waiting. Plant, yes. But more importantly, protect and nurture.