Compassion International plants trees at Ado Nkwanta

A non-profit organisation, Compassion International Ghana (CIGH), has undertaken a commemorative tree planting exercise at the St Augustine’s Child and Youth Development Centre at Ado Nkwanta in the Eastern Region, to support the government’s Green Ghana initiative.

Leading a team to undertake the tree planting exercise, the National Director of CIGH, Kwame Yeboah Okyere, said one of the ways people could help protect the environment and help in the fight against climate change was for them to plant trees and be custodians of those trees.

He said the seedlings planted when adequately nurtured, monitored and protected would go a long way to meet the purpose for which they were planted.

“It is not just enough for us to plant the trees, it is our responsibility just as we will nurture our children, to also ensure that we are taking care and protecting the very trees that we are planting,” he emphasised.

Climate change

He called on Ghanaians to take the threat of climate change seriously and consciously make an effort to protect the environment, starting from their communities.

Compassion International Ghana is a Christ-centred organisation engaged in transformative child advocacy and holistic child development, particularly for children living in extreme poverty.

The tree planting exercise by the organisation and its frontline partners was in their bid to integrate environmental stewardship and creation care efforts.

The event was also undertaken at Kutunse, Afienya, Senya Beraku and in the 16 other regions, with the aim of planting over 19,000 trees, including acacia, moringa, avocado, orchid and tree of life, among others.

The Partnership Facilitator for the Akuapem Mountains Cluster for CIGH, Samuel Okoampa, said that the intense degradation in the Akuapem area had called for strategies, which were implemented in partnership with 17 churches and other stakeholders to plant trees and ensure that there was the practice of good sanitation to protect the environment.

He said all participants in the communities were provided with seedlings which would be planted and monitored as time went on.

4,000 trees planted

So far, 4000 trees had been planted and would be put through an award scheme to ensure that all trees planted are carefully taken care of to replace all cut down trees, he said.

Mr Okoampa mentioned that the activity would be done annually with the development of new initiatives to bring all and sundry on board.

The Head of the Assemblies of God Child and Youth Centre, Abraham Satunia, stated that global warming had become a threat to humanity due to activities which had destroyed the ozone layer and affected the environmental order, hence the need to plant trees to help in correcting the effects.