Awutu Adawukwa (C/R), Aug. 6, GNA - Youth As A Mission Development Association (YAAMDA), a non-governmental organisation at Awutu Adawukwa, has planted trees at the Adawukwa and Abrewa Wenfo Traditional Protection Forest Reserve that was burnt by bushfire three years ago.

The NGO has planted 11,400 acacia, ffram, mahogany and oyena tree seedlings. Mr Daniel Bakah, Executive Director of the NGO, said this at a forum at Awawukwa to sensitize the people in the area on forest preservation and conservation.

The forest has been reserved by the two communities because it covers the river which severs as their source of drinking water. He said the programme was being funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and New England Biolabs Foundation. Mr Bakah said 68 volunteers had been engaged to nurture and weed around the trees and the NGO would give them inputs to motivate them. The Winneba Area Manager of Forest Service Division of Forestry Commission, Mr Edward Kweku Asare, commended the chiefs and people of the area for taking such bold decision to help protect and sustain their forest.

Nana Okyerema Abakah III, Chief of Adawukwa, appealed to the people in the two communities to plant trees around their houses and along the roads to serve as wind breaks. He urged them to stop cutting down trees indiscriminately, especially those around rivers.