Tamale, June 11, GNA – Right Reverend Dennis Dabukari Tong, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Tamale, has planted symbolic trees to begin a provincial eco-system repair exercise being undertaken by the Anglican Province of West Africa.
An Eco-Bishops Conference of the Anglican Church has been created to assign the church a role in contributing to repair the eco-system in the face of changing weather patterns.
Rt. Rev. Tong, who was among the bishops designated to manage the churches’ projects on maintaining the environment for sustainability, told the Ghana News Agency that his mandate as an Eco-Bishop extended beyond tree planting and environmental protection.
He indicated that as an ambassador on the project, it was part of his responsibilities to dialogue with West African governments to remind them on the need to adapt workable solutions to climate change and its effects on earth and humanity as directed by biblical principles.
By the virtue of the role the Church played around humanity, the leadership was obliged to ensure that the earth existed and in good health to sustain human life as designed by God
Rt. Rev. Tong noted that the principles of “the last tree dies, the last human being dies” was real and could be reversed should humans devise sustainable approaches to using earth’s resources wisely through rules and commitments by all, including leaderships, institutions, and transnational entrepreneurs.
He bemoaned the reckless use of the earth’s portions for unguided mining, tree felling, uncertified poaching and other industrialisation activities and said the Church was determined to support governments in the West African Province to map out strategies to reverse the trend through sustainable management of the earth.
He used the national tree planting day to launch the Provincial assignment in the Diocese of Tamale, saying the exercise would be undertaken by the Church, its schools, and members’ residences.
About 1000 trees would be grown in the Tamale Diocese alone, while the Anglican communion is expected to plant one million under the project.The
He called on the citizenry, the Christian community, and other religious groupings to actively participate in the national exercise to grow trees and speak out on the need to sustain the earth through good practices.
The Eco-Bishop, who selected some pupils from Anglican Schools in the Tamale Metropolis to join him in the exercise, indicated that it was to imbibe in them the respect for the earth and the need to grow trees to protect it.
He called for commitment to care for the tree seedlings planted to sustain them.
GNA