PRESIDENT AKUFO-Addo will today lead the nation to plant 20 million trees across the country, as part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation programme, to restore the country’s lost forest cover.
He will kick start the nationwide exercise by planting a tree at the Efua Sutherland Park in Accra.
Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, who announced this in Parliament, said Vice President Dr. Bawumia would plant in Tamale, while Speaker Alban Bagbin would plant within the precincts of Parliament.
According to him, the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, will plant within the precincts of the Supreme Court.
Other eminent Ghanaians, including the two former Presidents, will be planting across the country, the minister noted.
He said former President John Agyekum Kufour would plant a tree in Gomoa Nsuaem, while former President John Dramani Mahama will be planting in Accra.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, will plant in Kumasi, Ya-Naa Abubakari Mahama II will plant in Yendi, whereas the National Chief Imam and other eminent clergies will be planting across the country.
He disclosed that President Akufo-Addo would
later join the British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, and other British nationals, to plant in the Achimota Forest, in commemoration of the Platinum Jubilee of the ascension of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Mr. Jinapor said the fiduciary duty of managing the lands and natural resources of the country was an onerous one, but said Parliament had continued to lend him its support in the discharge such arduous duty.
For him, the climate crisis was reaching a tipping point, and said experts had indicated that greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest levels in 2 million years, and continued to rise.
“The Earth is now 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the late 1800s, with the last decade being the warmest period.
“Ice in the Antarctic and glaciers are melting, rain patterns are changing, rivers and streams are drying up, and sea temperatures are rising,” he stated.
The minister, who appealed to all Ghanaians to join in the exercise, said the Ghana Meteorological Agency reported that Ghana had experienced more than One Degree Celsius (10C) increase in temperature in the last three decades.
“The effect of this on our daily lives are obvious; tidal waves sweeping over coastal communities, frequent droughts, perennial floods, temperature rise, erratic rainfall patterns, food insecurity and poverty, among others.”
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and maintain a livable climate. But, at the current rate, global warming is projected to reach 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu