Akosua Frema Osei-Opare
The Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has implored the Forestry Commission (FC) to clamp down on illegal felling of trees in the country.
She condemned the unlawful activities and urged district, municipal, and metropolitan security councils, as well as other security agencies, to support the commission in its fight.
The Chief of Staff also appealed to the public to report any such activities to the police, as it would be of no use planting trees if the forests were not protected.
Ms. Osei-Opare made these comments while on a visit to the Achaiman Basic Schools in Accra, where she joined the Municipal Chief Executive for the Ga West Municipal Assembly (GWMA), Clement Wilkinson, to plant trees as part of the activities marking this year’s Green Ghana Day, where over 10 million trees were planted across the country.
During her address to the students and staff, the Chief of Staff urged everyone to plant at least seven trees to ensure a better future for the next generation.
She explained that this year’s Green Ghana Day aimed to address the substantial decline in the country’s forest cover caused by human activities and other climatic conditions.
The target is to plant 10 million trees by the end of this year, with a long-term goal of planting 20 million trees through the Green Ghana project.
The Chief of Staff commended the Amasaman community for their successful efforts in planting trees last year, but emphasised that meeting Ghana’s goal would require a coordinated effort and participation from numerous stakeholders.
She called on students, Corporate Ghana, traditional authorities, and religious organisations to participate and help ensure a sense of ownership among all facets of Ghanaian society towards reaching the 20 million target.
Mr. Wilkinson said seedlings would be given to assembly members to distribute to interested persons within their respective electoral areas.
“We will then monitor and advice them as to how to take care of the seedlings to grow,” he said.
He, however, entreated the people to desist from associating partisan politics with the exercise and rather focus on the significance of the trees.
The GWMA intends to plant 70,000 trees in schools within the community by the end of this month.
The Green Ghana initiative was created to address the risks that deforestation poses to the environment and public health.
Ghana lost 101,000 hectares of natural forest in 2021, resulting in almost 62.9 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
The initiative seeks to reduce the serious health and environmental threats posed by deforestation by encouraging nationwide tree-planting initiatives.
By Vincent Kubi