By Stephen Asante
Accra, June 07, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described as a huge success Ghana’s record-making of planting 52 million trees in the last four years.
“This is an incredible achievement,” he remarked, noting that the development inured to the benefit of reversing the country’s lost forest cover.
Ghana has experienced a drastic decline in forest cover over the past decades, with the Global Forest Watch reporting in 2022 that the country lost some 18,000 hectares of natural forest.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, addressing a ceremony in Accra to mark the 2024 ‘Green Ghana Day’, said activities relating to agriculture, forests and land use contributed almost 50 per cent of the national greenhouse gas emissions.
Therefore, preserving the forests and adopting sustainable agricultural and land use practices had a high potential to combat climate change, he stated.
“Growing for a Greener Tomorrow”, is the theme for this year’s celebration – an event meant to create enhanced national awareness on the necessity for collective action towards the restoration of the country’s degraded landscape.
The Day is also commemorated to enhance livelihoods through engagement in the production of tree seedlings, inculcating in the youth the value of planting and nurturing trees and their associated benefits.
The President said beyond the environmental benefits, forests were essential natural resources for the country’s socio-economic development, providing livelihoods for the majority of the population.
For that reason, the Government was determined to work with the people in planting as many trees as possible in order to leave a greener and sustainable world for the future.
President Nana Akufo-Addo reminded the citizenry of their civic responsibilities as related to the restoration of the ecosystem.
The ‘Green Ghana Day’, he explained, presented an opportunity for the people to be environmentally responsive, and build a resilient ecosystem and healthy planet.
“The world currently faces a triple threat of unprecedented proportions: the converging crises of climate change, air pollution and biodiversity loss, which collectively pose a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of our planet.
“Let us integrate sustainable practices into our daily lives,” he advised, urging the people to be committed to embracing the tree-planting exercise, and also nurture the tree seedlings for their survival.
Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said the Green Ghana project was part of an aggressive national afforestation and reforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover of Ghana.
Generally, it envisages to build the country’s capacity to contribute to the global effort to mitigate climate change.
GNA