By Augustine Agyapong
Goaso, (Ahafo), June 12, GNA-The Reverend Edward Antwi, the Ahafo Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission (FC), has appealed to the forest-fringe community members to support the commission in the fight against illegal chainsaw operations going on in the region’s forest reserves.
He said the FC also required effective stakeholder collaboration and government support to combat the menace and to preserve the nation’s forest reserves.
In an interview with the media at Goaso, the Ahafo Regional capital, Rev Antwi expressed worry that illegal logging and lumbering threatened the existence of the forest reserves.
He said the rapid depletion of the forests in the area required a collective approach, hence the need for an effective collaboration against illegal mining and lumbering.
Touching on the 2026 Tree for Life initiative, Rev Antwi said the commission intended to plant over one million species of tree seedlings by the end of September this year.
He said the commission had already distributed mahogany, and other economic crop seedlings, and urged the community members to also nurture the trees for the nation to derive the optimum benefits.
Rev Antwi said the planting of the trees was to restore the depleted forest and vegetative covers as well as mitigate climate change impacts which were well felt in the region.
In another interview, Mr Emmanuel Anim, the Goaso District Forestry Manager, urged the community members to ensure that they planted and nurtured the tree seedlings properly.
He also added his voice on the need for collective efforts towards stemming illegal lumbering and logging in the area.
Mr Anim noted that illegal chainsaw operators who were mostly armed assault forestry personnel who protected the forest reserves in the region.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Augustine Agyapong