FBNBank Ghana has made a donation to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in support of this year’s Green Ghana Project at a short ceremony that formed part of a tree-planting activity undertaken under the auspices of Rotary District 9102 at Pantang Hospital in the La Nkwatanang municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
The Green Ghana Project is an initiative of government started in 2021, with a day set aside – dubbed ‘Green Ghana Day’ – to create awareness across the country on the need for collective action toward restoring the country’s lost forest cover. Government has targetted planting some 10 million trees this year. Some benefits of Green Ghana include inculcating the values of planting and nurturing trees, enhancing livelihoods to rural communities through engagement in the production of seeds, creating national awareness of the necessity of collective action toward the restoration of degraded landscapes in the country, and above all mitigating climate change.
FBNBank’s contribution of GH¢20,000 was made in line with the bank’s Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (CR&S) agenda, which has the environment as one of its pillars.
Making the presentation, Mr. Victor Yaw Asante – Managing Director of FBNBank and the Rotary District 9102 Governor said: “Conserving the environment is a responsibility that must be headed by all to secure a sustainable future for Ghana. To that, we remain focused on putting our customers and communities first. This we have sought to do through the rich value and excellence of what the bank contributes to the relationship with its stakeholders as a whole, particularly the customers”.
The cheque was received on behalf of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources by Honourable Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Benito Owusu-Bio, who expressed his gratitude to FBNBank for its kind gesture and also commended the bank for demonstrating leadership in supporting government’s effort in the Green Ghana campaign. He also urged Ghanaians to get involved in the national ‘Let’s Go Tree-Planting’ initiative that will see government leading the charge to plant over 10 million trees.
Ghana has been losing its green cover at an alarming rate over the past decades, and this has called for serious action on the part of all to arrest the deforestation. According to Global Forest Watch in their report ‘Ghana Deforestation Rates & Statistics’, in 2010 Ghana had 7.00Mha of natural forest, extending over 30 percent of its land area. In 2021, it lost 101kha of natural forest – equivalent to 62.9Mt of CO₂ emissions. Ghana has some estimated 6.6 million hectares of forest, made up of 1.2 million hectares of closed forest and 5.4 million hectares of open forest. These have however come under threat, largely from activities such as illegal mining and illegal logging.
FBNBank has in its 27 years of operating in Ghana remained focused on putting its customers and communities first. FBNBank Ghana is a member of the First Bank of Nigeria Limited Group which is renowned for its great customer service and general stakeholder engagement garnered over its 128 years of operation. FBNBank has 23 branches and three service centres across the country with almost 500 staff. FBNBank offers universal banking services to individuals and businesses in Ghana.
In a related development, FBNBank partners Rotary Club to launch tree-planting initiative reports Buertey Francis BORYOR.
FBNBank Ghana, in collaboration with Rotary Club has launched a tree-planting project dubbed ‘One Rotarian, One Tree‘ initiative under the District 9102 Green Project.
The project’s aim is to support government’s agenda of ensuring afforestation and reforestation to improve the green cover as a climate change mitigation measure, and to reduce the negative effects of illegal mining.
Managing Director of FBNbank Ghana, Yaw Asante – who is also the Rotary District 9102 Project Governor, launching the project at the Pantang Hospital in Accra noted that this year, unlike previous ones, the Rotary Club will ensure that all trees planted are well nurtured to maturity stage.
Presenting a cheque for GH¢20,000 to the Club in support of the project, he expressed the bank’s commitment to partnering with the Club to protect the environment and make it a better place for future generations.
He underscored the need for environmental protection, saying it is the foundation of sustaining the planet, community and economy.
“Our environment supports and houses our ecosystems, allowing them to grow and thrive. If we fail to protect our environment, we will put the lives of humans, animals, plants and more at risk,” Mr. Asante added.
He further noted that by supporting protection of the environment, Rotary is ensuring a sustainable future for current and future generations.
According to the World Bank, environmental issues like air, plastic and water-pollution affect health and hygiene. Others such as mining, unmanaged solid waste, and contaminated sites release hazardous chemicals; while land degradation, deforestation and overfishing heavily impact livelihoods and limit drivers of growth in Ghana.
Medical Director of Pantang Hospital, Dr. Frank Baning, addressing the gathering noted that the exercise also aims to instil the values of tree-planting and its associated benefits into Ghanaians while contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change.
“I believe that the choice of Pantang Hospital for this special programme is very fitting and apt, in the sense that the hospital has very good relations with Rotary International which go beyond my tenure as Director of the hospital. Aside from our good relations with the organisation, the hospital has also been in the forefront of tree planting exercises over the years.”
