ASA Savings launches tree — planting campaign to restore degraded lands
ASA Savings and Loans Limited has begun a nationwide tree-planting exercise aimed at restoring degraded lands, protecting livelihoods and helping to mitigate the impact of climate change.
The company has planted more than 500 seedlings in two senior high schools in the Ahafo Region as part of a broader target to plant 3,000 trees nationwide.
The beneficiary schools are OLA Girls Senior High School in the Asutifi North District and Hwidiem Senior High School in the Asutifi South District.
The environmental campaign forms part of the financial institution's environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
The seedlings included mango, orange, coconut, mahogany, cedrela and oframo trees carefully selected for their environmental, economic and educational value.
Speaking during the exercise at Kenyasi on Tuesday, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Sustainability Officer of ASA Savings and Loans Limited, Lily Opoku Mensah, said the exercise forms part of the company's efforts to restore degraded lands.
She explained that the initiative was also aimed at promoting environmental consciousness among students and protecting the future of communities threatened by deforestation and climate change.
She said environmental destruction, rising temperatures and the disappearance of green spaces demanded urgent collective action, adding that schools remained one of the best places to nurture a generation that valued and protected nature.
“Every tree planted today represents life, hope and a commitment to future generations. At ASA Savings and Loans, we believe sustainability must move beyond words into practical action that directly impacts communities," she said.
Priority
Ms Mensah said the company prioritised degraded communities, schools and rivers, adding that protecting the environment was everybody’s responsibility and urged the students to be environmental ambassadors capable of leading the country's climate action efforts.
Ms Mensah said they wanted students to develop a lifelong culture of tree planting and environmental stewardship wherever they find themselves, adding that the future of the environment depended on the habits they built today.
The OLA Girls Assistant Headmaster in charge of Administration, Ernest Richard Amankwaa, expressed gratitude to the company for partnering the school to improve its environment and gave an assurance that the school would nurture the trees to maturity by assigning students to water and monitor them regularly.
Timely
At Hwidiem SHS, the Headmaster, Dominic Abugri, described the initiative as timely and one that would help instil environmental consciousness in the students, pledging that the school’s environmental committee would supervise the care of the seedlings, particularly during the dry season.
Some of the students told the Daily Graphic that involving schools was critical in restoring the country’s disappearing green cover.
They said the initiative would help protect natural resources for the future.
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