By Bajin D. Pobia/Janet Mwinkaara, GNA
Wa, June 8, GNA – The Overlord of the Waala Traditional Council, Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, has directed all paramountcies within the Council to cultivate two acres of trees each year on degraded lands to replenish the tree cover in the area.
He said planting trees and ensuring that they grow to maturity had been a traditional practice bequeathed to them by their ancestors and that the need to plant trees was more demanding now than ever considering the damage caused to the environment as compared to the past.
He said the time had now come for all to embrace the flagship programme of the government, especially the youth to restock the lost tree cover in the communities.
Naa Seidu Pelpuo gave the directive at the Upper West Regional edition of the 2024 Green Ghana Day celebrations held at the Wa Senior High School, aimed at afforestation and restoration of Ghana’s degraded landscape.
It was on the theme: “Growing for a greener tomorrow.”
Naa Seidu Pelpuo also tasked the chiefs and community leaders to stop bush burning at locations where the seedlings were planted to safeguard their growth to sustain the environment.
He appealed to the Ghana Education Service to introduce environmental studies, especially tree planting in the schools, to inculcate in the students appreciation and responsibility to issues regarding the environment.
He also appealed to the Regional Forest Services Division to support the Waala Traditional Council with the technical services and equipment to store water to water the seedlings to grow to maturity.
Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Upper West Regional Minister, said the region was expected to plant 600,000 seedlings of which 500,000 would be planted on reserve and 100,000 seedlings on off-reserve areas.
He appealed to the people in the region to actively participate in the exercise, as the initiative was appropriate for “our circumstance since we are very close to the desert and our survival depends very much on the environment as mostly peasant farmers.”
“The significance of greening Ghana cannot be over-emphasised as we face the threat of such environmental challenges such as climate change, deforestation and pollution”, he said.
“It has become necessary to take urgent and proactive measures to safeguard our planet and ensure the well-being of present and future generations,” he added.
Mr Yakubu announced that for the past three years, the region had planted 1.3 million seedlings, exceeding its target of 1.1 million seedlings.
He said the survival rate for planted seedlings during the period had been between 60 and 70 per cent and encouraged the people to plant more trees as “our efforts were yielding positive results.”
Mr Godfred Quashigah, the Upper West Regional Manager of the Forest Services Division, said 534,000 tree seedlings including timber species, shade trees, ornamental and fruit trees had been distributed for planting.
He reminded the people to continue to take good care of the seedlings planted by ensuring that they were well nurtured.
Mr Hakeen Musah, Assistant Headmaster in charge of administration of the Wa Senior High School, said it was a priority of the school to nurse seedlings and plant them but encroachment along the school’s fence wall had hampered the success of the programme.
He said there were containers dotted along the school’s wall and appealed to the authorities to remove them to allow the school to ‘green its environment.’
GNA