As part of activities to mark the Green Ghana Day celebration, the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, and Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, embarked on a tree planting exercise at the Nationalism Park near Black Stars Square.

The ministry, like many others, planted seedlings in the park to earmark the celebration that is aimed at replenishing depleting forest reserve in the country.

The Minister of State for the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Osei Bonsu Amoah, in an interview with GhanaWeb reiterated government’s commitment to protecting and replenishing the lost vegetative cover in the country.

“It is an initiative which is very laudable to the sense that today has been dedicated to planting trees and not just for the planning of trees but also creating the awareness so we can preserve our trees and forest and environment, to fight the climate change menace. We should do everything we can to preserve what we already have and protect and replenish it,” he said.

He added that given the growth percentage of the trees planted in the past years, it is crucial to continue to create awareness of the importance of planting trees.

“Given what has been going on for the past years, especially with the declaration of 2021 and 2022, given that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, is saying that over 70% of what we did is still surviving, we believe it’s something that we should continue. The target this year is 10 million trees or seedlings as we call them and if we continue this way, I think that we will be replenishing what has been lost, preserving what we have and creating awareness and inculcating in us especially the youth that this is the best way to go if we have to fight all the menaces talking about degradation and pollution among other” he added.

At the same ceremony, the Chief Director of the ministry, Amin Abdul-Rahaman noted that the Green Ghana Day celebration is crucial because it will help sustain the environment for future generations.

“This initiative was started several years ago and the reason for starting it was to embark on greening our nation because of the depletion of our forest lands and our vegetative cover. And so, the government decided that this exercise should be undertaken every year to see how best we can improve our vegetative cover, improve our forest reserves and to also try to sustain our environment for the survival of all Ghanaians," he said.

"It is particularly crucial because climate change and its attendant effects are having a very deplorable effect on our country. Especially for countries that are within the West African region and so this exercise is very important because it is going to help us to sustain our environment for our own survival and generations to come," he added.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA), Samuel Nii Adjei Tawiah also mentioned to GhanaWeb that his outfit will ensure the survival of the trees that have been planted.

“We are here because since the year 2021, the president rekindled this green Ghana Idea and since then, year on year, we come here to plant trees. Today, the local government ministry and the minister of state for the local government ministry, himself 4is leading the project here to make sure that we plant enough trees. Throughout the country, we are expecting to plant 10 million trees and our commitment as an assembly is to make sure that we take care of these seedlings that have been plated so that gradually the idea of our forest good health situation becomes a reality,” he added.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo 2021, set aside June 9 as a day marked to celebrate a Green Ghana Day nationwide to plant trees and raise awareness on the effect of climate change on the environment.



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