Regions go green…plant 10 million trees

For the third year running, the entire country has embarked on a tree planting exercise to replace destroyed trees in an aggressive national afforestation effort.

While in the first year (2021) an initial plan to plant five million trees was exceeded, 20 million tree seedlings were planted across the country in 2022.

The target for this year’s exercise, which took place in all regions and districts last Friday, June 9, was 10 million trees.

It was on the theme, “Our Forest Our Health”. 

Ashanti

From Kumasi, Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor reports that the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II joined the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu Bio and the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, to plant 2.1 million trees in the region.

Speaking to the media, Mr Osei-Mensah warned residents who reared animals to keep them in their pens to prevent them from roaming the streets and chewing the trees planted.

He warned that the ruminants would be ‘arrested’ and their owners fined.

“If they fail to pay, we will slaughter the animals and give them to the prisoners,” he said.

For his part, Mr Bio entreated all to take care of the trees and nurture them to grow, as it was everyone’s collective responsibility.

“We all stand to benefit from it,” he said.

Northern

From Kushegu in the Yendi Municipality, Northern Region, Mohammed Fugu reports that a durbar was held to promote community participation in the restoration of the environment and fight against climate change in the Northern Region.

It was organised by The Feed the Future (FtF) Ghana Market Systems and Resilience (MSR) Activity and the Feed the Future (FtF) Ghana Policy LINK Activity, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Team Leader of MSR, Michael Amaniampong Owusu, said the durbar sought to foster a sense of community ownership and engagement for active participation in sustainable environmental practices.

"Ghana MSR and Policy LINK Activities would complement the government’s efforts by facilitating the establishment of community nurseries to serve as a sustainable source of seedlings for farmers," he said.

Aggressive afforestation

For his part, the Climate Change Lead at Policy LINK, Dr Gerald Forkuor, said "The crusade to restore the depleted landscape requires the commitment of all stakeholders through awareness creation of climate change and community participation".

The Manager of the Yendi District Forest Services Division, Michael Kofi Benni, lamented the rampant destruction of the forest cover by bushfires and the indiscriminate felling of trees.

The Chief of Kushegu, Kushe Naa Abdulai Osman, commended the USAID MSR Activity and partners for the engagement and pledged his continuous support to preserve the environment.

Upper East

Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports from Bolgatanga that the Upper East Regional Minster, Stephen Yakubu, accompanied by the District Chief Executive for Bolgatanga East, David Akolgo Amoah and other dignitaries planted trees at the Gambibgo Community Day Senior High School as part of this year's Green Ghana Day.

A total of 600,000 tree seedlings were raised to be planted across the 15 municipal and district assemblies in the region.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Yakubu said although the policy was laudable, it would take the contributions of all stakeholders to ensure the survival of the trees.

He urged the people to personally monitor the trees to ensure they survived to justify the huge investment made by the government over the years.

He advised the municipal and district assemblies (MDAs) to reactivate their anti-bushfire squads to bring incidents of bushfire to the barest minimum.

For his part, the President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam II, said the benefit of the tree planting exercise was enormous, and the immediate benefit would be the stoppage in the southward creep of the Sahara and improvement in the rainfall pattern.

Central

From Cape Coast in the Central Region, Shirley Asiedu-Addo and Francisca Eshun report that government agencies, religious organisations and educational institutions in Cape Coast joined others to plant trees to mark the day.

The Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, who planted trees at the Central Regional Coordinating Council, underscored the importance of trees to the well-being of all and said it was important that all participants committed to nurturing the trees to survive.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Johnson Nyarko Boampong, also led the UCC community to plant trees in the UCC community.

Emeritus Archbishop Kobina Nketiah, who also led the Catholic Church's exercise, planted a tree at the Cornelia Connelly School of the Holy Child Jesus and urged religious bodies to be proactive in efforts to restore and protect the environment.

The Director of Operations, Plantation at the Forestry Service Division of the Forestry Commission (FC), Daniel Donkor, led the FC team in the region to undertake the exercise.

He stated that a lot of money had gone into the Green Ghana Day and said ensuring that the trees survived was necessary to ensure the investment was not wasted.

Western

From Bohomodzen in the Western Region, George Folley reports that the Sekondi -Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, led by the Chief Executive, Abdul Momin Issah, joined the staff of the Bohomodzen Clinic to plant tree seedlings around the premises of the facility.

He also supported the Ghana Air Force and the Holy Child Teacher Training College with seedlings.

Mr Issah enumerated the benefits of the seedlings and urged the three beneficiary establishments to nurture them as expected from every Ghanaian participating in the Green Ghana Project.

He said the assembly supplied 10,000 seedlings of various species under the Palermo City of Italy sister relationship, while the Forestry Commission also supported with a thousand species.

Bono

From Sunyani, Biiya Mukusah Ali reports that the Bono Region distributed 601,727 seedlings to be planted on Green Ghana Day.

Sixty per cent of the trees were planted in degraded forest reserves, while 40 per cent were planted in the off reserve.

The species included mahogany, Kokrodua, Teak, Ofram, Emire, Cedrella, Gmelina, Cassia, Mangoes, Avocado Pear and Oranges, among others.

Speaking at the exercise at the Catholic University of Ghana, Fiapre, the Bono Regional Forest Manager, Augustine Gyedu, said the region had distributed seedlings to the registered groups.

He said last year, the region planted 1.9 million seedlings, adding that the region exceeded its target of one million seedlings which had a survival rate of over 70 per cent.