We must stop the destruction of our forests at all cost

Since the United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Forests on March 21 by resolution on November 28, 2012, to coincide with the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, symbolising renewal and growth, the day has been observed globally every year.

The International Day of Forests is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of all types of forests and trees, and emphasises the crucial role that forests play in sustaining life on earth, such as providing habitats for biodiversity to combat climate change and support the livelihoods of millions of people.

The importance of forests and how vital they are to human existence, we believe, is not lost on even the unlettered, hence the well-known axiom, “When the last tree dies, the last man dies”.

Commemoration of the International Day of Forests is meant to highlight the numerous benefits that forests provide, including purifying the air, regulating climate, conserving water and offering resources like timber and medicinal plants.

The day also accentuates the importance of ensuring sustainable forest management and conservation efforts, to preserve vital ecosystems for current and future generations.

Marking the day is even more critical today, as swathes of forests have been destroyed through illegal and unsustainable tree felling, illegal mining, bush burning, unsustainable farming practices and a host of other activities that not only destroy our forests, but also put our lives in jeopardy.

The theme for this year’s commemoration, “Forests and Foods,” shows the role forests play in ensuring global food security.

The forests also provide a home for animals in the wild, while most of the headwaters of our rivers and waterfalls are found in the forest.

Trees for furniture, building and paper for the book and print industry and all sorts of items are made of wood from the forests.

Ghana’s main cash crop, cocoa, thrives in our forests alongside food crops such as plantain, cassava and maize.

Trees that make up the forests determine the weather pattern, take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce the oxygen (air) that we breath.

The fast depletion of our trees account for the Climate Change that is plaguing the world currently.

If these do not inform us on the need to preserve our forests, then nothing else would.

Current statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organisation indicate that the country has around 7.9 million hectares of forested land (35 per cent of the total land area). 

In 2022, however, the country lost 18,000 hectares of primary forest,  nearly 70 per cent increase from 2021, and it was the biggest increase in forest loss of any country in recent years.

This dire strait the country finds itself in should inform proactive and prudent measures to preserve our forests at all cost.

It is why the Daily Graphic is in support of any measures the government will take to ensure that our forests are protected.

This includes a relentless onslaught on illegal mining, which has destroyed the country’s major rivers, large tracts of productive farmlands and forest reserves that are supposed to be protected.

While the Daily Graphic finds heartwarming the announcement by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, that seven out of the nine forest reserves that were completely overrun by illegal miners had been successfully reclaimed, we urge the government to ensure that under no circumstance must leases be given for our reserves to be mined.

We also laud the government’s attempt to sanitise mining licences by revoking all small-scale mining licences that were issued by the previous government after December 7, 2024 to allow scrutiny into whether the issuance followed due process.

We owe it to ourselves and posterity to protect what is left of our forests and not to indiscriminately give them out to be mined and destroyed.

The government must put in sustainable mechanisms to halt the free for all mining of our lands.

 Any person found culpable must be dealt with severely to serve as a deterrent to other adventure seekers.