By Ibrahim Mohammed Saani
Tema, June 10, GNA – Unilever Ghana Limited has marked the 2023 National Tree Planting Day in Tema with a coordinated planting exercise through the RANA Roundabout to the VALCO Roundabout in the Tema Industrial Enclave.
Mr. George Owusu-Ansah, Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, who led the team, said 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 by half by 2030 and to avoid temperature rises in Ghana.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah said Unilever Ghana decided to collaborate with Twedaase Basic School in Tema Community One to undertake the tree planting exercise to also mark the global community’s commemoration of World Environment Day.
The day observed by the United Nations (UN) on June 5 each year was to encourage action on the climate crises facing the planet.
He said the company was committed to planting 5,000 trees across Ghana by 2030 with the objective of helping to regenerate forests and lands while the debates and opinions about climate change were being flexed around.
He noted that 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 general public to be responsible and cultivate the habit of showing care for the planet in their own way.
He said the pupils represented the future of the planet; therefore, getting them 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 as part of the exercise.
He urged 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