By Opesika Tetteh Puplampu
Obane-Ada, June 07, GNA – Prudential Life Insurance Ghana, a subsidiary of Prudential Plc, in collaboration with some partners, has planted 5,300 tree seedlings at Obane near Big Ada in the Ada East District of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
The partners are the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND), the Forestry Commission, the Wetland Club of Ada Senior High, and the community members.
The exercise, which took place on June 5, 2025, in commemoration of World Environment Day, formed part of the company’s aim to restore depleted mangroves in the area.
Madam Gifty Owusu, Head of Sustainability, Prudential Life, noted that the project dubbed the Prudential Mangrove Tree Planting Project is on the theme “Protecting Lives, One Mangrove at a Time.”
Madam Owusu noted that the exercise was focused on reviving the mangrove, while contributing to the national tree planting programme and observing the World Environment Day, which required that every individual, community, and group must contribute to a safe and healthy environment.
She noted that as a sustainability-focused company whose purpose is to be partners of every life and protect every future, Prudential Insurance Ghana deemed it fit to restore mangroves in the deprived community, noting that the mangrove in the community, which is eroding, was also a United Nations-designated Ramsar Site, which needed to be restored.
She said, “it is for this reason that we decided to support the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND) and the Forestry Commission’s request to support Obane to restore the mangroves, which are being depleted and hence, harming the livelihoods of the people.”
She said the government has set June 05 to 30 for tree planting across the country while creating awareness on the need to restore the country’s vegetation in a bid to protect the environment, lives, and livelihoods.
She further disclosed that “last year around this same period we came to plant 2000 trees to begin the mangrove restoration project,” adding that these bring to 22,300 plants planted by her outfit since 2022 as their support to restore Ghana’s vegetation.
According to the Forestry Commission, the current mangrove cover of Ghana is estimated at 72.4 km2 with over 18 million trees (average = 2284.21 trees per hectare), both naturally occurring and planted mangroves.
Recent studies indicate that there is a significant decline in the country’s mangrove forests with about 35 per cent of them lost over the past decades due to factors such as urbanisation, over-exploitation, pollution, wildfires, and climate change.
GNA
Edited by Laudia Sawer/Kenneth Odeng Adade