The Divisional Chief of Mognori in the Bawku Municipality of the Upper East Region, Naba Alhaji Mahamadu Assibi Azonko, has entreated chiefs, opinion leaders and heads of decentralized departments and institutions to support government’s Green Ghana Project to succeed by way of education and information dissemination on the relevance of tree planting and general management of the environment.
The Divisional Chief who doubles as the Chief Director at the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council said for the Green Ghana project to succeed efforts should be made to involve all local stakeholders including educational institutions, traditional authorities, Security agencies, religious leaders and heads of departments. Naba Alhaji Azonko made the assertion at the launch of the Green Ghana Project in Bolgatanga, capital of the Upper East Region.
The Upper East Region has been allotted One Hundred and 70 thousand seedlings with 50, 000 each for regional office and the Bolgatanga District of the commission and 20, 000 for the Bawku Zone. The state of the forest reserves indicates that there is a general increase in forest disturbance from the wetter to the drier forest areas. In the region, statistics show that the forest cover has been depleted by 80 percent over the years due to activities of illegal miners and other factors.
About 14 per cent of the total permanent forest estates in Ghana are without adequate forest cover. The exercise seeks to encourage Ghanaians to plant more trees to preserve and protect the country’s forest cover and the environment. In his welcome address, the Upper East Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission, Emmanuel Yeboah, said some of the seedlings at the nursery sites include Baoba, Rosewood, Shea, Ceiba, Mahogany among others. He said his outfit has put innovative measures in place in ensuring a successful implementation of the project.
Naba Alhaji Azonko, underscored the need for pragmatic measures to be put in place to protect the region’s and for that matter the country’s forest cover. An appeal was made to all players involved in the exercise to ensure that all trees planted are nurtured to grow.
Bolgatanga: Red Cross marks Green Ghana Day.
In a related development Upper East Regional Manager of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Paul Wooma, says planting a tree without nurturing it to grow is as useless as not planting it. He said the move by government through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to plant 5 million trees across the country as part of activities marking the Green Ghana Day Celebration is timely but efforts must be made to ensure that all trees planted are well nurtured to grow.
Mr. Wooma made the assertion when the Regional Branch of the Ghana Red Cross society in collaboration with staff and students of Zamse Senior High Technical School initiated a tree planting exercise to commemorate the day. They planted tree along routes, and residential areas among other vantage points.
The Regional Office of the Ghana Red Cross Society through its volunteers at the various communities have over the years embarked on several sensitization campaigns aimed at encouraging residents in the region to plant trees in their homes and also help protect the forest cover in their catchment areas. Even though most of the people bought the idea and planted some trees, they could not nurture them to grow. The practice according to the leadership of the Ghana Red Cross Society is unacceptable.
The tree planting exercise lasted over three hours where trees including Ceiba and mahogany among others were planted at residential areas, routes and shoulders of roads within the Bolgatanga municipality. In an interview with GBC NEWS, the Upper East Regional Manager of the Ghana Red Cross Society, Mr. Paul Wooma, commended government for the initiative and called on all stakeholders including chiefs to support the implementation of the project.
Miss Deborah, a student at Zamse Senior High technical School, appealed to her colleagues to educate their parents on the need to plant trees and also protect the forest cover. The upper East Region is expected to plant over 170 thousand trees to commemorate the Green Ghana Day celebration.
GBCs Samuel Ayammah
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