Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), June 13, GNA – The Dormaa Municipality planted thousands of ornamental trees at sections of the new lorry terminal and along the Dormaa Ahenkro-Nkrakwanta stretch under the Green Ghana project.
Mr Iddrissa Ouattara, the Dormaa Central Municipal Chief Executive, led residents, including chiefs and queens, heads of department and agencies, security personnel, health workers, civil society actors to plant the trees.
The tree species, comprising 3,000 Mahogany, 400 acacia and 60 Royal palm trees, were supplied by the Bono Regional Office of the Forest Services Division.
Institutions and organisations, including Hair Dressers Association, Dressmakers Association, Dormaa Wood Village Association and students participated in the tree planting exercise.
Mr Ouattara explained the Green Ghana project was introduced by the government to protect the environment and appealed to the people to support it.
He condemned illegal logging and lumbering and advised timber and wood dealers in the municipality to register their activities, pay required taxes to enable the Assembly to generate the revenue needed for development.
Mr Quattara warned illegal chainsaw operators and wood dealers would be arrested and prosecuted.
Mr Ebenezer Mensah, the Dormaa Area Forest District Manager, said the Dormaa Municipality exceeded the target of 100,000 seedlings, saying about 150,000 trees were planted to mark the day.
“This is a great and clear indication that people have come to embrace the call to plant trees in the area,” he said, adding most of the seedlings were planted off-forest reserves in the area.
“In the coming years, most of the woods we get will not come from the forest reserves. Today’s exercise is the climax but it doesn’t mean we will stop planting trees, we will continue to plant to replenish the portions of the depleted reserves,” he added.
Barimah Oppong Yaw Boabasa, the Gyaasehene of Dormaa Traditional Area, advised the people to develop interest and plant more trees to serve as windbreaks and guard against flooding.
He said climate change and its attendant unpredicted weather pattern was partly due to the indiscriminate felling of trees and urged the people to help mitigate climate change impact in the municipality.
GNA