The deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR) in charge of Lands and Forestry, Benito Owuso-Bio, has said corporations stand to demonstrate greater commitment to global climate actions by supporting the government to realise its green agenda through the ‘Green Ghana Day’ project.
With all forms of businesses and to a large extent human activities contributing to rising climate change, conscious efforts, for instance, through the planting of trees, are seen as best mitigating measures.
It is against this background that Mr. Owusu-Bio indicated that the government decided to quicken efforts toward afforestation in the country through the Green Ghana Day project.
The government’s tree planting novelty, which started some three years ago, has so far led to the planting of some 31 million trees in two years, out of which 23 million have survived and are being nurtured,
The initiative, an aggressive afforestation and reforestation programme undertaken on every second Friday of June, also aims to restore degraded landscapes in the country.
At its inception, five million trees were targeted to be planted. But at the end of the year, an excess of two million trees were planted.
Similarly, in the 2022 programme year, a total of 24 million trees were also planted from an initial target of 20 million trees. These developments demonstrate the acceptance of the public of the government’s initiative.
It is because of this that the deputy Minister of Lands, in an interview during an appreciation tour of some selected companies in Accra, urged businesses to step up their support for the initiative.
The thank tour undertaken by the ‘Green Ghana Day Planning Committee,’ under the Ministry, sought to recognise the contributions of corporations to the initiative so far. They include Access Bank, Ghana Oil (GOIL), Japan Motors and the Ghana Chamber of Mines.
The Managing Director of Access Bank, Olumide Olatunji, receiving a plaque in recognition of his outfit’s support and sponsorship of the project, noted that the Bank prioritises such contributions as part of its sustainability programmes.
He assured the deputy Minister and by extension, the public of cintin support for the programme is not one-off but continuous as plans are already in place to also support this year’s programme as well as the others to come.
“We recognise this award, and we are partners with you to ensure that we review sustainability in what we do as a country,” he added.
Similarly, the Managing Director of Ghana Oil, Kwame OseiPrempeh, reckoned that the company belongs to the state and, therefore, it endeavours to associate itself with everything that will propel the nation forward.
He said “Greening Ghana is a laudable idea,” while lamenting that all the regions and cities of the country which hitherto were beautified with trees like Kumasi are no longer the same with the trees gone.
Mr. Osei Prempeh expressed worry that tropical Africa continues to lose trees through the illegal cutting of trees and other forest destruction activities unlike in Europe where trees are strictly protected.
While entreating corporations to join hands with the government on the project, he also added that the use of fossil fuels damages the environment and, therefore, noted that the more trees there are, the better it will be for the country.
Also, in recognition of their award, he said the company will continue to offer its support for the success of the programme.
During the presentation of the Green Ghana award to the Ghana Chamber of Mines, the Chief Executive of the Chamber, Sulemanu Koney, said a longstanding decision has since been taken to commit to the initiative.
“We recognise the importance of the environment. When it comes to climate change and its effect, generally the conversation has been about how to mitigate the effects of human activities on the environment,” he stated.
He added that “The reality is that we take so much from the environment, and most of the time we take it for granted that it is the environment which reflects who we are.”
On the back of this, he said the mining industry which operates from within the environment – taking resources from the environment – prioritises the environment by doing reclamation and closure, which helps to restore the environment to its pristine state.
According to the Deputy Minister, field assessments conducted by the Ministry and other independent state agencies have confirmed positive survival ratios of the trees planted so far, averaging 72 percent for those planted last year as compared to 81 percent in 2021.
While adequate measures were put in place to ensure the survival of all trees planted, several external factors accounted for the survival rate, including rainfall patterns, wildfires and soil fertility. Nonetheless, the survival rate shows that there are still some 23 million trees to nurture.
It is against this background that the target for this year’s exercise has been revised downwards to 10 million trees.
“This will give us space to devote some resources and attention to the trees planted over the last two years, while not losing momentum on our quest to restore our degraded landscape,” he explained.
Furthermore, he said it is the expectation of the government that this year’s exercise will receive the usual support to build upon the successes achieved in the previous years – 2021 and 2022.
The 2023 edition of the ‘Green Ghana Day’ which comes off today, Friday, June 9, 2023, will be held under the theme “Ourforest, our health’.
