On June 11, 2021, The Global Shea Alliance planted 1,000 shea trees in support of the Green Ghana Day, an initiative by the Government of Ghana to plant five million trees in a single day across the country.
Shea seedlings were planted by women cooperatives in Kpachiyilli Community in the Northern region. Trainings on tree management and parkland protection were provided to the community to ensure the long-term care and survival of the seedlings as well as existing trees.
For decades, landscape around the Sahel have been under increasing pressure from climate change and human activities. In the northern region of Ghana, forest cover declined by 40% between 2000-2015, according to Ghana’s Forestry Commission.
This present significant environmental, social and economic challenges to a vulnerable landscape but also highlights the importance of efforts like Green Ghana Day and the GSA’s Action for Shea Parkland – an initiative to address the rapid decline of shea tress across East and West Africa by planting and growing 10 million trees and protecting 4 million hectares of shea parkland over 10 years.
Managing Director of Global Shea Alliance, Aaron Adu, announced that the organization is targeting to plant 10 million shea trees within a period of ten years.
“We have an initiative we call Action for Shea Parkland that seeks to grow 10 million shea trees and protect 4 million trees of existing parklands. So, when the government announced the Green Ghana initiative, it fit directly into our action for Shea parkland and so, we mobilized the women of Kpachiyili community in the Tolon District to plant 1,300 trees as part of the Green Ghana initiative.”
Throughout the month of July, to promote shea parkland restoration efforts, GSA will undertake cross-regional activities including tree planting, community training, rallies, and social media campaigns in West Africa. In Ghana, the GSA and partners will undertake a commemorative tree-planting exercise on July 16th to mark Shea Day.
Since 2020, GSA members, partners, and industry stakeholders have planted more than 110,000 trees in shea communities in West Africa.
