By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), June 9, GNA – Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, has commended some traditional leaders in the region for banning negative environmental practices in their bid to help protect the environment.
He, particularly, cited the Paramount Chief of the Pulima Traditional Area in the Sissala West District, Kuoro Osman Deiwia Nankpa III, who during the 2023 edition of the Gandawi Festival, announced the banning of commercial charcoal production in the area.
Dr. Salih gave the commendation in Wa on Friday during a brief ceremony to launch the 2023 edition of the Green Ghana Day (GGD) in the region on the theme: “Our Forest; Our Health” with Heads of Department and Agencies including the security agencies in attendance.
The Minister took the lead to plant a tree at the premises of the Upper West Regional Hospital just after the ceremony and other departmental heads followed suit by planting a tree each.
“I highly commend him (Kuoro Nankpa) and all others for their bold initiatives taken to protect our environment and assure him of the government’s support to enforce the ban.
“This is not only a noble course, but also in line with His Excellency the President’s vision of sustaining the environment for enhanced ecological and sustainable development”, Dr. Salih said.
He explained that there was a need for the people of the region to embrace the government’s green Ghana initiative as the threat of desertification was glaring in the region due to its proximity to the Sahara Desert.
The Minister observed that the virtual destruction of the environment had posed a serious food and energy security threat to the country.
He stressed the need for all to support the government’s interventions to protect the environment, including the ban on illegal mining in the country.
Mr Godfred Quashigah, the Upper West Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission (FC), said the region had a target of 300,000 trees to plant against a national target of 10 million trees to be planted to mark the GGD.
He indicated that the survival rate of the GGD trees planted in the region for the past two years stood at about 80 per cent, and added that the initiative would help restore the degraded and deforested landscapes across the country and build resilience against climate change.
Mr Quashigah said the day was to, among other things, inculcate in the youth, the value of planting and nurturing trees and their associated benefits, mitigate climate change and protect water bodies.
He, therefore, urged the public to see tree planting as a continuous exercise which they should do regularly, saying, “Let us continue to care for the trees we plant, ensuring that they are well nurtured and become well established.”
Dr. Robert Amesiya, the Medical Director of the Upper West Regional Hospital, observed that over 80 per cent of the 915 trees planted within the premises of the hospital during last year’s GGD survived and had added to the beauty of the facility.
In a message on his behalf, the Chief Executive Office of the FC, Mr. John Allotey, appealed to the people to put all hands on deck to exceed the 300,000 target for the region and to nurture and grow them so that the government’s investment in the initiative would not in vein.
GNA