Stop indiscriminate tree felling - New Juaben Omanhene charges public
The Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Kwaku Boateng III, has asked the public, especially illegal miners who cut down trees indiscriminately in forests in the Eastern Region, to desist from doing so.
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He said apart from destroying the ecology of the area, cutting down the trees would also hasten climate change associated with numerous negative impacts on human habitation.
Daasebre Kwaku Boateng made the call at the regional launch of the Green Ghana Project in Koforidua in the New Juaben North Municipality in the Eastern Region last Friday.
Seedlings
The initiative was to plant and nurture 600,000 tree seedlings of various species ranging from ornamental trees to cash crops, shrubs and fruits, among others.
He warned that it was dangerous to continuously cut down trees indiscriminately in the forests.
Dasebre Kwaku Boateng said if Ghanaians had for a long time protected the forest by not cutting down the trees, the people would not have been experiencing the negative effects of the weather or climate change.
He said although one could not totally abstain from cutting down trees due to their uses in the construction industry, it was necessary to do so sustainably by planting new ones to replace them.
Preservation
Daasebre Boateng lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his effort to preserve the country's forests.
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The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, said the Green Ghana Initiative was instituted as part of measures to curb the incessant degradation of the forests for years without any conscious effort to replace them.
Human activities such as illegal mining and illegal logging, he indicated, had impacted negatively on the vegetation.
The regional minister said it had, therefore, become imperative for the government to adopt the necessary measures to restore the lost forest cover.
Mr Acheampong asked traditional rulers, community members, farmers, teachers, students, churches, Muslim communities and other religious and identifiable groups to collect seedlings from designated points to be planted.
The Municipal Chief Executive for New Juaben North, Comfort Asante, and her counterpart in New Juaben South, Isaac Appaw-Gyasi, appealed to residents of the area to take the responsibility for the survival of the tree seedlings planted.