Following the nationwide enthusiasm that greeted the Green Ghana campaign in the middle of this year, the government of Ghana through the Forestry Commission intends to Plant additional 20 million tree seedlings in June 2022.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo announced at COP26, in Glasgow recently that, Ghana intends to scale up the annual planting target for Green Ghana Day from five million to 20 million tree seedlings to be planted nationwide in a day.
The Green Ghana Day was held on 11th June 2021. The exercise was geared towards planting 5 million trees a day to restore the degraded landscapes across the country. However, over 7 million tree seedlings were planted during the event.
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During the Forestry Commission’s end of year interaction with the media in Accra On Thursday, December 23, 2021, it was revealed that about 85 percent of the tree seedlings that were planted in June this year “are growing very well.”
The Commission also assured that it would work tirelessly to ensure that the 20 million targets set by the President is met in June 2022.
Mr. Nyadia Suleman, a Deputy Chief Executive at the Forestry Commission was convinced that the 2021 Green Ghana Day was a success and emphasized the need for all Ghanaians to embrace it as the campaign would inure to the benefit of present and future generations.
Mr Suleman used that occasion to extol the Ghanaian media for its contribution in publicizing the works of the Forestry Commission to the world.
Mr Suleman continued that, “Because of your work, the international media and the international community praise Ghana for your work in contributing to fighting the menace of climate change. So your work, in this year particularly, is something we price so much. So on behalf of the Chief Executive, I want to thank you for publicizing our activities and much more importantly improving our relationship with the Ghanaian public.”
“We are looking forward to next year and we hope you would remain steadfast with us. We are prepared through our activities to give you space to interact in an improved manner with us and you would also give us space on your platforms to have better interactions and to make ourselves more accountable to the public.
Touting the achievement of the Commission in the year under review, Mrs. Joyce Kwafo Ofori, Manager, Corporate Affairs and Media Relations at the Forestry Commission noted that the Commission set an annual 25,000-hectare target for both government and private plantations. However, due to the COVID 19 pandemic and its negative impacts on output, the target was reviewed downwards to 16,000 ha.
According to her, as of September 2021, 13,081 ha of degraded land had been planted by both the Commission and the private sector. Also, a total area of 10,425 ha of established government plantations had been maintained.
She added that a total distance of 18,934 km of forest reserve boundaries was cleaned and inspected to secure the integrity of the reserves. To secure the integrity of the Forest Reserves, funds were secured to replace missing forest reserve boundary pillars at Lawra, Bole, Yendi, Walewale, Tamale and Buipe/Damongo Forest Districts. In total, 638 pillars have been replaced in these Districts.
Touching on Mining in Forest Reserves, Mrs Kwafo Ofori noted, “the issue of mining in Forest Reserves became topical about three years ago but has diminished in intensity since Government’s decision to deploy the military to clamp down on this environmental menace. The Forestry Commission will continue to do everything in its power to secure the integrity of the forest reserves under our stewardship.”
Regarding the Wildlife Bill, she informed the gathered press that the Bill has received Cabinet approval and that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has prepared a memo which has been forwarded to Parliament for consideration and necessary action.
By: Mohammed Suleman/Publicagendagh.com
