The Vicar-General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi, Very Reverend Father Louis Tuffour, has urged Ghanaians to take responsibility and combine efforts to halt incessant destruction of the vegetative cover.

He said all should accept to work together, with some seriousness and sense of urgency, to protect the forest and water bodies. He described as deeply worrying the rate at which the once forested areas were being turned into savannah through unrestrained logging and illegal mining, and said there was a real danger.

The Very Rev Fr Tuffour who was speaking at a ceremony to mark this year’s Abor Day in Kumasi, called for aggressive reforestation programmes to restore the ravaged reserves. The day is used to encourage individuals and groups not only to plant, but to take good care of trees.

This year’s event in the Ashanti Region was organized by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, and involved the planting of more than 500 trees in selected schools at Atonsu, Tafo-Nhyiaeso, Anyinam and Kobriso. The Very Rev Fr Tuffour spoke of the determination of the church to do everything to encourage its members to take to tree-planting.