Nana Yaw Osei Darkwa with some students in Tamale
As part of efforts to restore the country’s forest cover, Green Republic, in collaboration with Youth Icon Ghana, has launched a campaign to plant 20 million trees in the country over a 10-year period.
In line with this, about 10,000 trees are expected to be planted in Tamale, the Northern regional capital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a total of 7 million people die daily from respiratory related diseases as a result of air pollution.
Ghana’s forest cover is depleting rapidly just like that of Togo and Nigeria.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Nana Yaw Osei Darkwa, Convener of the Green Republic Project, said more trees must be planted to tackle the green house gases that would be emitted by the factories that are to be constructed under the ‘One District, One Factory’ flagship programme of the government.
According to him, Ghana has lost a whopping 60 percent of its forest cover from 1950 to date which translates to some 2.7 million hectares of forest.
“The youth are alarmed about happenings in the world where the devastating effects of climate change is setting in motion a domino effect with catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences such as drought, hunger, flooding, poverty, war and refugee crisis,” he added.
Nana Yaw Osei Darkwa called on government to enforce laws and regulations to protect the country’s forest in the country.
“I propose that the era where road and building contractors cut down trees to give way for construction without replanting must be a thing of the past.”
The Northern Regional Forestry Commissioner, Bernard Tabil, reiterated the commitment of the Forestry Commission to providing the necessary technical advice and planting materials to the Green Republic Project team to plant trees across the country.
The tree planting exercise is expected to be carried out yearly to restore the country’s forest cover.
From Eric Kombat, Tamale