By Ibrahim Mohammed Saani
Tema, June 7, GNA – Unilever Ghana Limited, together with Twedaase Basic School in Tema Community one, have joined the global community to commemorate World Environment Day by planting trees at the Tema Industrial Area.
The day observed by the United Nations (UN) on June 5 each year was to encourage action on the climate crises facing the planet.
Mr. George Owusu-Ansah, Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, revealed that the company’s compass, “Sustainable Living,” was to make the environment a better place for everyone to live in.
He said the tree-planting exercise was in line with the UN effort to reduce CO2 emissions to halve by 2030 and to avoid temperature rises in Ghana.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah said the company was committed to planting 5,000 trees across Ghana by 2030 with the objective of helping to regenerate forests, oceans, and lands while the debates and opinions about climate change were being flexed around.
He said Ghana was a temperate country, and if for nothing else, trees provided shade and beautified the cities.
“As part of the company’s pledge to be a part of the effort to rescue the planet from the crisis that confronted it, they have also committed to collecting 10,000 metric tonnes of plastic by the end of 2030.
“This will be in collaboration with the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE),” he said.
Mr Owusu-Ansah expressed pride in the exercise and acknowledged the interest shown by the Twedaase Basic School children while urging the public to be responsible and to cultivate the habit of caring for the planet in their own way.
He said the pupils indeed represented the future of the planet, therefore, getting involved now would go a long way to guaranteeing the quality of life they would be enjoying in their prime and beyond.
He encouraged children to become activists for the environment by sharing the knowledge they acquired in their studies and through exercises such as tree
planting with their friends and family members to ensure the collective good of the planet.
Master Kwakye Ransford, a pupil of Twedaase Basic School, said they appreciated the information provided by Unilever Ghana Limited to be part of the exercise.
He, however, indicated that as youth, they were the successors of this generation, so it fell upon them as part of their duty, to reduce the climate crisis in the world.
He pleaded with corporate bodies to organize regular events and activities to enable the youth and schools to participate in tree planting and other acts to protect the environment.
GNA