Green Diversity Foundation (GDF Africa) – a Non-Governmental Organisation vested in environmental conservation, water resources and land management – in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Tullow Ghana Limited, as part of this year’s World Environment Day Celebration, have planted 500 trees at the buffers of Lake Kalmoni located within Lakeside Estate in the Adentan Municipality.
The move is to halt pollution of the lake which is located within a community.
The programme’s objective is to sensitise stakeholders and the community on the need to protect, clean and manage our urban water-bodies, so as to achieve goals 6 and 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and improve the quality of living.
The move is also in line with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to fight global warming.
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction. It will only succeed if everyone plays a part.
The Chairman of GDF Africa, John Pwaman who was part of a team that embarked on the tree planting exercise, said the initiative is to create awareness on the importance of planting and protecting trees in every locality.
The head of Environment and Asset Protection at Tullow Ghana, Lauren Darko, said her company decided to partner the exercise because it is aware of the importance of environmental sustainability. “They say when the last tree dies the last man dies. That is a classic example of the importance of sustainability; we want to ensure that while we develop, we do not harm the environment,” she said.
The Operations Manager at Tullow, David Blackmore, said the initiative could not have come at a better time to enhance greenery of the environment.
The Greater Accra West Regional Director of the EPA, Salley Biney, said pollution of the lake is a worrying phenomenon and there are plans to dredge and get it back to its past glory – but before that is done, protecting buffers of the lake would greatly help…which led to the planting of 500 trees in the enclave.
