Wa, July 01, GNA – Mr Baba Musa Iddrisu, the Lawra District Manager of the Forestry Commission, has called on the public and institutions, especially beneficiaries of the Green Ghana Day (GGD) tree seedlings, to nurture the trees to grow to serve the intended purpose.
“Greening Ghana has not ended, it is a process, it is not an event, beyond the day, we entreat the public who were supplied with seedlings to care and nurture these planted seedlings so that they can grow to serve the purpose for which they were planted”, he explained.
Mr Iddrisu made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa on the aftermath of the GGD and the plans put in place by the commission to ensure the efforts and resources invested into the exercise were not wasted.
He explained that the enthusiasm with which the people exhibited towards the GGD was a testament that the goal of the initiative of imparting the culture of tree planting and good environmental practices into the people was being realised.
According to him, the Lawra Forest District exceeded its target of planting 200,000 tree seedlings with a total of 344, 446 seedlings planted, out of which about 160,000 seedlings were distributed among the various District Assemblies within the Forest District.
The Manager added that about 150,000 seedlings were also planted in the forest reserves on 134-hectare land while about 36,000 seedlings were also distributed to institutions including schools and Non-governmental Organisations within the forest district to plant.
He observed that the exercise should not end with the distribution and planting of the trees but should be followed with the culture of nurturing and growing those trees.
He explained that apart from the GGD tree planting exercise, his outfit was also implementing other tree planting projects including the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project where they were engaging individuals to establish woodlots.
Other modules he identified included the Modified Taungya System (MTS) where the Forestry Commission was engaging and supporting farmers from the forest fringe communities to establish tree plantations on degraded forest lands.
“This year we have demarcated 243 hectares that is being established using the Youth in Afforestation beneficiaries”, he added.
Mr Iddrisu intimated that the commission had put in place measures including regular patrols and construction of fire belts around the reserves as well as effective weeds control to help ensure the trees planted survived.
“These fires are always caused by people, so we carry out sensitisation and awareness creation within all the communities that are fringing the forest reserves. We educate the public on the dangers and negative effects of wildfires,” he said.
GNA