As part of government’s call to the public and institutions to plant trees in their respective areas – dubbed Green Ghana – to enhance the nation’s forest cover restoration, Volta River Authority (VRA) led by the Chief Executive Mr. Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa has planted tree species to be nurtured in front of the head office in Accra.
Mr. Antwi-Darkwa said government’s objective is to ensure the planting of 5 million tree species varieties nationwide under the Green Ghana initiative.
This particular initiative is integrated into the VRA 60th Anniversary celebrations under the theme ‘VRA @ 60: investing in the Green Ghana initiative for Energy and Environmental Sustainability’. This, he said, is to remind us of our own afforestation programme; in particular, the Volta Gorge Reforestation Programme (VGRP) aimed at forest cover restoration through the protection of existing vegetation and restocking all degraded lands, either by enrichment planting or by full plantation development.
Mr. Antwi-Darkwa said VGRP consists of 23 reforestation projects which are being implemented in 23 communities along the eastern and western banks of the Volta gorge in Asuogyaman district. He said, so far, VRA has covered substantial areas with new vegetative cover consisting of both plantation and natural forest.
The VRA Chief Executive said the Greening Ghana event is therefore a reinforcement and consistent with its commitment to ensuring that the country’s degraded forest cover is restored.
As a public utility that manages a watershed that is extensive, VRA is proud to be associated with it. According to him, as discussions on climate change become public interest issues, it is important to know that we as the country’s premier power generator leads the effort to build clean and more environmentally sustainable power systems which will safeguard the future of generations yet unborn.
That is why VRA continues to embark on significant investments in renewable projects and other low carbon power generation technologies, as its contribution to ensuring that the country maintains a low and acceptable carbon footprint. He urged the officials not to forget that the authority owes a responsibility to the public to operate so as to ensure that all water resource systems in the country – in particular Volta River systems whose watershed constitute about 40% of the land-area of Ghana – is kept pristine and managed sustainably.
